The Plough: Vol. 2 no. 2, June 1973

j

TOWARDS AN IRISH WORKERS REPUBLIC

JUNE 1973

VOL. 2 NO. 2

NO COLLABORATION:

NO ILLUSION |

| ~ hollow as they sound, there is still no guarantee

LOYALISTS |

Many people may feel that the holding of the post-White Paper elections is the first step to clearing up the rubble and debris of the past four.years’ struggle from the path of a final and reasonable settlement. But vigilance must be the watchword of the minority.

Even if the White Paper proposals were not as that they will be implemented. Orange Unionism is still very strong. If Britain cannot outmanoeuvre Craig and Taylor etc. politically she will be forced to come to terms with them.

That means that the only alternative way of creating ‘stability’ will be by smashing every last semblance of resistance in the Catholic ghettos. Can British imperialism outmanoeuvre the Loyalists? Although Craig’s Vanguard Party has not made the dramatic impact that might have been expected, too much significance should not be attached to this. As the implications of the White Paper sink in, his support will undoubtedly grow among the Protestant masses. Faulkner on the other hand, despite his apparent support, has never been in a really strong position. The Unionist Council accepted his ‘wait and see’ policy by_ only a slight majority. And what are his supporters waiting to see? They are waiting to see if the Tories are prepared to go through with the White Paper as it stands. If they are, then it will be all-out resistance.

So it looks as if Britain will be unable to defeat the Loyalist faction. This means an inevitable alliance between British imperialism and the hard-line Unionists. The out come for the Catholic community will be-an acceleration of the repression and more hardship under the heel of the Paratrooper jackboot.

What hope do the so-called ‘leaders’ of the Catholic community, the SDLP, hold out against such an eventuality? They have been praying that Alliance and the NILP will gain Where We Stand 1. _‘ The general task of the Revolutionary Marxist Group is to help to launch a 32 county revolutionary workers’ movement. We do not consider ourselves to be the basic nucleus out of which this movement will develop. We see the process as taking the form of numerous fusions in which the socialist cadre of all revolutionary groups, including both wings of the Republican movement, will come together.

However we consider that as a group we can play a vital role in helping to formulate and clarify the programmatic basis on which this movement must unite. 2. -What distinguishes the RMG from other Left and revolutionary organisations is our attitude towards the national question.

Bese ow. sufficient authority from the elections to act as a buffer against the Protestant hard-liners.

In other words, the lives and homes of the.

minority are to be placed in the genteel, middle class hands of Alliance and its NILP tail. Such is the salvation which the SDLP offers.

SELF-RELIANCE

All points to the conclusion that the elections are a death-trap for the Catholic community.

Now, more than ever, the old self-reliance built up during the past years of struggle is necessary. The solidarity of the people in the ghetto areas needs to be strengthened in a common preparation to defend their areas.

This defence must be prepared on a national level through the recreation of the mass _ On the one hand the ‘economistic’ Left says that the class struggle has nothing to do with the national question because they. confuse the class struggle with the economic struggle.

On the other hand the pure nationalists, because they are dominated by a false ideology, also deny that the national question has anything to do_with class struggle. They want to keep class struggle in the background as far as possible. As against these sectarian and opportunist approaches, we insist: {i) that the working class is in fact-the most exploited and oppressed section of the nation under the imperialist yoke of Britain, and that therefore it is in their objective interests to struggle against every manifestation of imperialism. (ii) because the working class is the most exploited and oppressed under imperialism it is the only section of the nation which can be depended upon to struggle to the. bitter end against imperialism. All other classes, as we

N BRITAIN’S

aul (i { organisations for Civil Rights and Civil Resistance and by making a more serious effort to set up functioning regional assemblies. It must also be prepared at a local level by reviving and strengthening the street committees, by mounting more vigilante groups, which may be helped by the armed movements, but cona trolled by the people themselves. This is the way to victory!

GUARD AGAINST BRITISH IMPERIALISM’S

DEAL WITH THE HARD-LINE UNIONISTS!

PREPARE TO DEFEND THE INDEPEN-

DENCE OF THE MINORITY!

MILITANTS LEAVE SAOR EIRE

Portlaoise Prison: Friday, May 18th 1973 We the undersigned Political Prisoners in Portiaoise Prison wish to publicly state that we have severed any connections which we have or ever had with the organisation calling itself Saor-Eire. In this action we are following the lead of other. geriuine political elements who have resigned. Our reasons being the following: — (1) That Saor Eire originally was constituted to com- ‘bat Imperialism in Ireland. During the last two years have been warned by Republican fighters from Tone to Mellowes, will betray. Only the ‘men of no property’ can be relied upon. To ignore the class struggle therefore is to compromise with imperialism, because in the words of James Connolly ‘only the Irish working class remains as the incorruptible inheritor of the fight for Irish freedom.’

3. _ Finally the RMG is distinguished by its unyielding internationalism. The specific peculiarities of any country are but a unique or original combination of economic, political and social tendencies which operate internationally under capitalism. For this reason it is impossible to understand adequately the revolutionary struggle in any single country, and it is impossible for the revolutionary struggle to win a final victory as long as international capitalism exists.

Because we believe this we are firm supporters of the Fourth International, and as such are part of a world-wide socialist movement which participates in and leads many revolutionary struggles. , @wing to political weaknesses in the structure.of that organisation undesirable elements have been able to Operate around its fringe.and carry out actions under the name of Saor Eire which had nothing in common with the stated objectives of that organisation. Asa consequence of the activities of these pseudo-political individuals genuine revolutionaries have been in danger of being tarred with the same brush, their political integrity questioned and the possibility of their credibility with other revolutionary: organisations tarnished. As this element now seems to con-° stitute the leadership of that organisation we feel it our duty as revolutionaries to point out to the Republican Socialist Movement the degeneracy of that collection of individuals.

(2) Furthermore these people have not alone been content to use that organisation for their own personal ends but hdve gone so far as to interfere with the anti-imperialist struggle in Ireland by using harassment and bully-boy tactics against life long members and supporters of the Republican Movement. As has been stated in numerous press articles a cloud of mystery still hangs over the brital murder of a sincere end dedicated revolutionary, Peter Graham, in October 1971. Saor Eire once operated as a sincere revolutionary organisation. For us, it doesno more.

In conclusion we again wish to reaffirm our allegiance to the establishment of a Democratic Workers’ Repub- ‘lic in Ireland and pledge our support to the revolution ary forces who are struggling to attain it.

Martin Casey (Dublin) Eugene Norrby (Derry) Sean Morrissey (Tipperary) Paddy Dillon (Dublin) Joseph Dillon (Dublin) Donal Dineen (Cork) Donal O Laoghaire (Cork) Danny McOwen (Dublin) _ Peter Graham, a member of the Fourth International and a founder member of the Young Socialists fram which the RMG emerged, was murdered in his flat in October, 1971. The identity of his killers and the reasons for his death have not yet been established.

Over the past few weeks the IDA, the OECD and the FUE have all come out in favour of an incomes policy for Ireland. The growing chorus is supposed to get a certain message across to trade union delegates who will be attending the ICTU annual conference in July. The message is that wages will have to be even lower this year than they were last year.

INCOMES POLICY?

The usual reason given by the employers’ side for controlling ‘incomes’ (read wages) is that wages push up prices’so that Irish products cannot compete with those from other countries. As we showed in The Plough (Vol.1, No, 2), this argument is fraudulent. Over the: past decade or so real wages rose by only 42% while industrial productivity rose by 60%: So the increase was not inflationary, in the sense that it was paid for out of a real increase in the x wealth of society. Speaking at the Cll Conferbace earlier this year, Professor N.J, Gibson (of recent notoriety).

who lectures in economics at NUU verified our view. According to'the Irish Times report, Prof, Gibson-was annoyed at'the fact that, ‘in the analysis of inflation in the Republic, rather more emphasis is put on domestic costpush phenomena than is perhaps warranted.’

And he pointed out in justification of this criticism that, ‘the average wage earner in the transportable goods industries has not increased his relative share of the national output despite the activities of trade unionists.’

What then is the real reason for the big push for an incomes policy? The answer to this question may be found in a deeper understanding of the nature of Irish capitalism and the present dilemma it finds itself in.

OPEN ECONOMY

During the past ten or so years the traditional ~ base of Irish capitalism has been in a process of gradual transformation. From an industry geared specifically towards the Irish market, irish industry has been increasifigly geared, with the help of foreign capital, towards the British Gnd continental market. During the sixties the export of industrial products rose to.

30% of total industrial output, and the proportion of industrial products in total exports rose to over 50%. E

HELL

A notable aspect of the economic struggle which has emerged over the past decade. or so has been the increase in the number of trade disputes arising from the increasingly strict regime within the factory.

David Hynes’ rebort is no exception in this respect.

‘The question for trade union militants and socialists, not to mention the ordinary worker who is being increasingly bewildered by the inhumanity.and lack of dignity with which he is treated, is why this regime is progressively worsening, and how it can be fought.

INTENSIFICATION OF LABOUR

The answer to why can be understood only in terms of the falling rate of profit suffered over a prolonged period by Irish capitalism. Prior to the reconstruction of the Irish economy which was heralded by the First Programme for Economic Expansiomin 1959, the organic composition in trish industry was quite low.

That is to say that the ratio between capital invested in plant and machinery (constant capital) and capital invested in labour (variable capital) was down.

The implication here is that the rate of profit was high since profit occurs solely on that portion of capital invested in labour. But in accordance with the plans of the First Programme the organic composition of capital was transformed by massive injections of capital from outside the country. The new industries set up ; during the sixties were capital intensive i.e. the ratio between constant capital and variable capital was relatively high. In other words the organic composition of capital rose and the rate of profit declined.

- In order to offset the decline in the rate of profit every attempt must be made to intensify the use of labour so as to produce a relative increase in profits.

This intensification of labour can be observed creeping into the industrial scene in lreland during the sixties under the beguiling label of ‘rationalisation’ or ‘redeployment’. It found its most recognisable expression in the widespread introduction of productivity deals, especially in the second half of the decade when agreements were concluded in such big establishments as Guinnesses, Road Stone, and Aer Lingus. Other signs were also appearing. Most unskilled workers suddenly found that it wes impossible to find employment which did not entail either shift work or considerable overtime. Workers who had probably never even heard of Time and Motion study soon had Work Study experts continuously breathing down their necks, The key thing for management was to get super value for every second of labour-time for which capital had been advanced, But as the Journal of the Irish Management Institute noted, a major obstacle to The Plough June 1973 Page 2 But the reshaping of the economy has created a number of headaches. Firstly the Irish econo- ‘my is what the economists call an open economy. That is to say that Ireland’s Gross National Product is comprised of a significant percentage of exports and imports. This puts Ireland at an automatic disadvantage in competition with other countries, Forty per cent of Ireland’s GNP is comprised of imports; which means that the government and employers have no control over the inflationary content of a huge number of consumer goods By JOHN DOYLE necessary to Irish workers or raw materials which are processed and re-exported. The result is that Irish workers’ wages are pushed up to meet the inflation in foreign goods, so that in addition to the inflation contained in ~ the imported raw materials, increased labour costs also add to the price of the‘finished products, making them less competitive.

The first problem points towards the second problem. In order to keep industry expanding it is necessary to attract British and European investors, Since Ireland is an open economy which imports most of its raw materials from Britain and Europe the only advantage these in wstors see in Ireland is its abundant supply of cheap labour. As John Carroll, vice-president of the ITGWU, pointed out in a recent criticism of the IDA: ‘Many employers who were setting.

up shop here were now saying quite clearly that they could not compete in the EEC if they By ALASTAIR McCAFFERTY. rationalisation and redeployment of labour was the favourable rélationship of forces which existed between labour and capital. Over the year the labour movement had forced the employers to respect its interests: ‘Many restrictive practices surrounding jobs €,g. Overmanning and demarcations, excessive overtime etc..: have become integrated into the emplayer/ employee relationship as legitimate practices.’ This had to be changed before rationalisation could be generalised. it was in this context that the management regime within the factory began to harden. It reflects a

A CASE STUDY

DIAMONDS ARE

FOREVER

By DAVID HYNES Last July the workers of Shannon Lapidary decided to join a union, despite previous warnings of instant dismissals from the management, They were certainly justified when you consider the conditions that existed there. Shannon Lapidary and Marketing Co., which processes precious stone, is managed by Count Van Siestaff from Germany and Raymond Naftule from Geneva. There are about 28 workers, including one girl; employed: Workers have actually been suspended for a week for talking. It is common practice to have workers brought before the management for such petty things as being a few minutes late, not producing enough stofes (even when only training), taking a day off and not producing a doctor’s cert., being more than a few minutes in the~ toilet, etc. Naftule (the technical manager) likes to make the workers feel inferior by insulting and abusing them constantly, and calling them by their surname. He also likes to keep himself amused by introducing new restrictions and regulations every few weeks, including erecting production boards around the factory, starting a bonus scheme to divide the workers by encouraging Wem to work against each other. After the workers joined the union, they decided to present the management with a list of demands. Ata meeting that followed between the workers” union officials and management, the Company — realising that a strike would be disastrous for them as this was their busiest time and they would lose huge profits — agreed to most of the demands. These included wage increases, an extra week's holiday, and agreement on such things as lak pay and retirement pensions. The management also decided to make a gesture(?) by abotishing the female pay scale and bringing it into the same rate as that of male workers (approx. £6 more). This was rather-amusing, as the factory employs only one girl and does not intend employing any more. More recently, after the anouncement that the factory was expanding and that a further 30 workers would be employed, the management decided to get Shan: non Development to carry out aptitude tests amongst the workers, in an effort to keep out militants. They did this by carrying out the tests first on a group of four supervisors and then on the four most militant workers. Naturally, Shannon Development gave different reasons for the tests, but it was quite obvious what their intentions were.

This company has been in existence for about four years and they are the only company in the world which produces a new type of stone which consists of 50% sapphire and 50% strontium. It is generally accepted that the employers stand to make a fortune out of this special ty pe of stone, through exploitation and other means. The workers must organise against this. This is just a sample of what these foreign capitalists will do in the name of democracy. These are the very people who get tax free concessions, which gives them the right to opt out whenever they like. Most of these companies move out when they have exhausted their tax free concessions (and the workers in the factory), often leaving thousands of workers unemployed. had to pay EEC wages.’ To overcome these problems Irish capitalism needs desperately to keep wages at an abnormally low level. Otherwise exports will fall off and industry will cease to attract investment.

Already these problems are beginning to threaten menacingly. When the Third Programme for Economic and Social Development ended at the beginning of this year, it was revealed that while investment attained its modest target of 6.8% average annual increase, the annual average increase in the volume of exports was only half the projected 9%. It is because of these ‘disturbing’ results of the Third Programme that the employers urgently need an incomes policy to restrain wages.

WORKERS’ INTERESTS

In this situation, where do the real interests of Irish workers lie? Needless to say, a contraction of industry has no advantage to workers.

This indeed is the argument used by the government, the employers and the trade union bureaucracy. But it is a one-sided-argument.

The real threat to industrial expansion ant.

trade’ comes in fact from capitalism itself. Irish capitalism can hope to survive only so long as international capitalism can permit some form of free trade. But there is no guarantee that it can continue to do this indefinitely. The tailing off of the post-war boom points the way to a new series of trade wars, as foreshadowed by the recurring disputes between Japan and the United States, The recent hustle in the EEC over monetary policy and agricultural prices leads in the same direction. Under the circumstances only the short-sighted bureaucrats of the ICTU could urge the workers to hitch their wagon to the doomed star of capitalism. Collaboration to make a broken-down, out-moded system work will be a death-trap for Irish workers, What is needed on the contrary is a resolute policy of struggle. Let the employers and the trade union bureaucrats put their money where their mouth is. If wages push up prices then let’s have the matter tested by tying wages to prices. For every increase in the consumer price index let there be a similar increase in wages. In other words, instead of an incomes policy or a wage agreement, let the labour movement demand a sliding : scale of wages.

THE SHOP FLOOR:

process of ‘softening-up’ the working class. One need only look at the innumerable regulations governing the operation’of natural functions and desires — no using the toilets without the foreman's permission, no use of toilets over a certain arbitrary number of times a day, no talking, no singing, no use of phones, no. freedom to dress or behave as one desires. None of these bear a direct relation to raising productivity.

They do not apply for instance to office staff, Their sole purpose is simply to-cow the shop floor labour force so that management can herd the workers about as it sees fit,

HOW TO FIGHT _ .

Apart from the many reports similar to David Hynes’ which appear in the daily press, it is difficult to get accurate information on the role this type of grievance is beginning to play in the economic struggle, David O’ Mahony’s ERI report on industrial ~ relations does give some figurés which confirm that the tightening of the management regime during the sixties has given rise to a whole new area of struggle.

In 1951 only one in every 33 strikes was caused by bad conditions; in 1961, however, one in every four strikes was caused by bad conditions.

That this is not just a chance comparison, is borne out by the fact. that even the Labour Management Sub- Committee has in the past. been forced to draw attention to the arbitrary nature of discipline in industry. O’ Mahony reports that: ‘The Labour Management Sub-Committee states that discipline is maintained in-many cases which are of a relatively trivial nature.” Among other things the Sub-Committee put this down to the whims of management.

The massive strike wave of the sixties was a clear response to'the growing intensification of labour. But what was most notable about this response was the failure of the workers to make any lasting gains. This is not the place to examine all the areas where labour lost out, All that it is necessary to say here is that these failures resulted from the absence of a clearcut programme which could have been a focus for the struggle. Although the struggle is now beginning to ebb, it is-still not too late to begin proper resistance on a new basis, i.e. with a programme which can act as a barometer of success or failure.

Apart from dealing with such things as productivity deals, overtime, shift work, etc., this programme will have to deal with the regime within the factory. And the most powerful resistance weapon the workers could have in this field is the right of veto. The right to veto everything that management does is the only way the worker has of defending his limited rights on the shop floor. The task of trade union militants and socialists is to make the right of veto the watchword of the working class in their struggle against the dictatorial powers of management.

Ferenka Strikes Again! By LIMERICK BRANCH/RMG For many years now, the Ferenka plant outside Limerick has been the ‘oasis in the desert’ for all and sundry in the city and surrounding areas, Since news of the £20 million plant first received banner headlines some four or five years ago in the local press, it has been proclaimed as ‘great news’ by local politicians and businessmen. In fact, Michael Herbert, a local Fianna Fail T.D., was awarded the Oscar for re-directing ‘the giant firm away from its initial destination, eer to his home village, Annacotty. However, soon after construction, began, Fe-renka (which is a subsidiary of AKZO, the giant multinational concern) was to learn that the natives were not so friendly, and a spate of strikes began which was to set the trend for the years following, During this time a number of developments -have taken place, most noteworthy of which has been the scab role played by the trade union officials. They have acted as staunch allies of the bosses in every conflict. Their attitude is ‘that Ferenka is a ‘great blessing’ for workers of the area and that everybody should play their part in ensuring that these nice bosses are not upset by ‘nasty strikes’ in case they might go and leave us all jobless.

It is not surprising, therefore, to find that when the Union bureaucrat visits the plant he firstly calls on management to. see if everything is in order. He can also be expected to come to the assistance of * management in helping them to smash strikes. The most recent example of this involves a dispute concerning the hiring of two men as foremen, from outside the firm and without any previous experience. The workers were opposed to this as agreement had already been reached that vacancies should be filled as a priority from within the workforce. So pickets were placed on the plant and were supported by 99% of the 12,000 workers employed there.

Needless to say, the union (1.T.G.W.U.) immediately declared it unofficial, and arch Union bureaucrat, Vincent Moran, issued an appeal to the workers to ‘please return to work’. He went on to say, as a socalled representative of the workers, ‘we have ad- _ vised the workers to resume work and we would process through the rights commissioners, but they thought it could be solved by staying out’. But the workers at Ferenka have no faith in their Union officials, not to mind rights commissioneys. They see clearly the role the union leadership is playing, ie., one of working hand in glove with the bosses to stifle any militant action undertaken by the workers in defence of their rights.

As mentioned above, Ferenka is the Irish subsidiary of AZKO International, a Dutch concern, which has plants in practically every country in the Common Market. Their only concern in coming to Ireland is not to give employment, as Moran and the local gombeen politicidns would have us believe, but to avail themselves of cheap labour and large grants (grants to Ferenka to date amount to £8 million).

The wave of strikes at Ferenka has been blamed by management on ‘Maoists and Communists’, who are referred to as the ‘rotten apple amongst the good’, This over-reaction on the part of management can probably be explained by AKZO’s experience in Holland and West Germany when their chemical plants there were occupied by the workers. This action forced the AKZO trust to reverse its decision to lay off 6,500 workers in five factories in four different countries.

It is this international character which the Ferenka workers must grasp and build their demands around.

For instance, compare their wages with the wages of here the Officials go wrong One of the worst shortcomings of the Officials has been their failure to work out an overall analysis of the situation in Ireland today.

Because of this they have been unable to see _ the general direction in which the struggle is evolving, and they have been unable to make any real assessment or critique of the role being played by other political forces such as the Provos, U.D.A. etc. The most striking result of this absence of overall perspective is seen iri their inability to understand the various turning points in the struggle. This weakness has increased their isolation and permitted the Provos and now even the SDLP to outflank them.

PROS AND CONS

The latest turning point in the struggle, the publication ,of Whitelaw’s White Paper, has also highlighted the | Officials’ lack of general strategy. This has been re- } flected directly in their attitude towards the local : government and assembly elections, which are an integral part of Whitelaw’s initiative. Apparently.

after long discussions and much soul-searching, they have decided to participate in these elections.

The report of these discussions and the conclusions arrived at, contained in the June United Irishman, do not show any understanding of the role of the elections in the postWhite Paper period. The - discussion simply centred around the general questions of electioneering. Some people seem to have objected to participation in the elections on the grounds that the proposed local government _ councils and the new Assembly were not sufficently democratic institutions. Those who wanted to participate were quite correct to point out that these objections were too abstract and insufficient.

Thése arguments could be used against participation in any elections at all, since all parlimentary and local government institutions are designed specially to create the illusion of democracy.

On the other hand, the pro-election advocates were equally abstract in their arguments. They ‘argued that it was necessary to participate in the elections because it would be wrong, (i) to pass up such an opportunity to get their.

views across to the people, (ii) to leave the field open to middle-class politicians like the SDLP, the Nationalist Party, Alliance etc. But un- ‘fortunately such arguments could be used to justify participation in every election without exception. This approach is probably more dangerous than that of the ‘abstainers’, since it transforms what for socialists is merely a tactic into a principle. hh i we ¢ ‘2 > f} Elections, to socialists, are just one of the escape valves of capitalism. Théy help to create and maintain the illusion of democraey. They give the worker the. feeling that he has a say. If we look closely enough we can in fact see that the socalled ‘representative institutions’ only represent private property. Historically, of course, in order to have a yote one had to own a considerable sum of wealth. This was modified when the working class began to challenge the existance of capitalism, in-order to incorporate them into the © system, But even to this day these institutions remain.representative of property. In the Dail, for instance, 3% of T.Ds are of working class origin (whereas the working class comprises 30% of the population), and 30% are from the capitalist classsbankers, financiers, industrialists etc (whereas this group comprises only 3% of the population). Notwithstanding this, as long as capitalism functions normally the working class will remain under electoral illusions, and socialists who do not wish to become isolated from the working class will be forced ‘to use elections as.a platform for their views. But once capitalism looses its equilibrium and private property is forced to express its rule in an increasingly naked form, the opportunity arises for socialists to expose electoralism. It is their duty to pose alternative forms of rule such as the revolutionaries in Russia did by creating ‘Soviets and other organs of dual power. Whey capitalism is in a severe crisis—when the ruling class can no longer rule as before and when the working class refuses to live as before—it would be criminal opportunism for socialists to advocate participation in elections initiated by the ruling class. Under such circumstances such elections could only have the effect of restoring the ruling class’s influence over the workers.

In short, the participation of socialists in elections is dependent not pa abstract principles which are valid for all eternity but on concrete circumstances—on the equilibrium of capitalism, on the ability. of the capitalist class to rule and on the willingness of the masses to struggle.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ELECTIONS

The Officials were prevented from approaching the present election period in this way because they have no overall analysis of the struggle. They are uncertain about the meaning and outcome of ~“imperialism’s initiatives, and consequently they have no real appreciation of the concrete conjuncture—hence their abstract reasoning at every stage of the struggle. To make a valid judgement on the elections, it is necessary to understand the significance of the White Paper. Was it a success-or a failure? Of course it was a failure in that it did not solve the problems of the Catholic ghettos, But it was also a failure in the deeper sense that it did not even solve the problems of British imperialism, The sections on ‘power sharing’ and the ‘Irish dimension’ were so hollow that British imperialism clearly does not have any real material basis for hoping to reintegrate the €atholic minority into the Unionist Satelet or af imposing a new stability on the North.

In other words the White Paper does not seriously affect the inability of British imperialism and its clients to regain control of thé situation in Ireland.

It merely shows that while they cannot regain control of the situation they can find no acceptable alter- , native way of ruling; it does not offer any hope to the Catholic community and offers no reasons for opting back into the statelet.

The only recourse left open to British imperialism now is political and military manoeuvring. Its new strategy has obviously been to wear down the resistance and independence of the Catholic community by, stepping up the Para brutality. They hope by this to reduce the minority to such a state that in sheer desperation it will opt to.use ‘normal political channels’ to forward its case. If that happens British imperialism knows that this will be the first step towards reintegration.

~Electoralism has a logic all of its own. Because it represents a refracted expression of capital’s rule it blunts revolutionary consciousness and initiative and begins a process of reconciliation. Participation in the elections by the Catholic community, no matter to whom their votes go, will be a victory for British imperialism’s strategy: In the light of this the abstractness of the Officials takes on a serious reformist coloration. The two © reasons which the “participationists’ give for contesting the elections are not in the least sufficient to justify their stand, They ignore the actual conditions of the situation. Besides, it is not _ necessary to participate in the elections in order to use them. It would-be quite as easy and much more correct and principled to wage a boycott campaign around the-elections. In this way it would still be possible to put forward revolutionary politics.and expose the middle class politicians, while at the same time making no concessions to British imperialism’s strategy.

DARA McEVOY

STREET COMMITTEES AND PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLIES

The street committees and the People’s Assemblies presence should serve to remind us that the present still exist, but they do not now have the total support _«™ political consciousness of the inhabitants of the in the ghettos that was once given them. Their Belfast RMG reports ghettos is not what we sometimes like to think it is, It is not difficult to find ‘people’s representatives’ who . their fellow workers in the AKZO trust and then see the extent of exploitation they are undergoing.

What has happened at the Ferenka plant is only one example of the collaboration of the trade union leaderships with management against the working activities, instead of becoming broader and deeper, have narrowed. These forms of*self-government, which _ the day-to-day struggles of the workers, In the New class. Such instances may well become more numerous as unofficial strikes are used by the workers to combat the ever increasing redundancies, Against such collaboration, workers must take control af the course of events themselves, through democratically elected strike committees answerable at all times to mass meetings of the workers involved. , These committees can provide the means by which the strike is strengthened and extended until it is won despite the betrayals of the bureaucrats.

MARXIST REVIEW

Theoretical Journal of the R.M.G.

No.3 ‘Towards a Leninist Party’ Conway—Leninist Theory of Organisation Dorn—Connolly and the Revolutionary Party _ Mandel—Ciass Consciousness and the Party

COMING SOON

No.4 ‘Guerrilla Warfare’ AVAILABLE FROM: 38 Clanawly Road, Dublin 5 or the GPO. at one time might have pointed the way to a higher form of society, have deteriorated to being poor replicas of the old outmoded forms of government.

What are the causes of this retrogression?

The first street committees were seen in the period following the. pogroms of August ‘69. No one was quite sure of their purpose, and probably if discontent had not escalated to insurgency they would have disappeared without trace. There was vague discussion of defence, and vigilante patrols-were established in many areas, but it was really Brian Faulkner who saved the street committees from _ oblivion, The wave of anger which swept the country {and the world) when the concentration camps were opened and filled by this short-lived government unified the working-class in the anti-Unionist ghettos as seldom before. A strong determination was formed that they would never again accept the rule of the puppet regime at Stormont. This re- .

jection was manifested in increased military action ‘by the IRA and in the increase in the number of street committees and People’s Assemblies.

These organs of self-government had many problems to tackle. To an armchair revolutionary the providing of street-lighting may have seemed a trivial business, but more serious individuals realised the importance of involving themselves in Lodge Road areas, for example,-worthwhile work was done in the field of housing. The influence of People’s Democracy was recognisable, The People’s ‘ Assembly in Ardoyne, where the people had suffered considerably during the first weeks of internment, involved itself in various tasks from the mundane business of keeping the streets clean to rebuilding a street of burnt-out houses.

WEAKNESS

It must be noted, however, that these bodies reflected in a magnified form the weakness of the revolutionary movement as a whole. Much talk was made of the spontaneous nature of revolution—this from people who had spent weeks in preparing for even a small demonstration. Few fully understood the role which revohitionaries should play in such organisations and there were few with the political education necessary to play the correct revolutionary role. All too often leadership was left in the hands of elements which can only be described as pettybourgeois and reactionary. A clerical influence was especially noticeable in the Ardoyne People’s Assembly.

It was perhaps inevitable that Roman Catholic priests, whom many regarded as their natural leaders, should have disproportionate authority in these bodies, nor should it be assumed that this influence was always malevolent, but their may once have lived in ghetto but have long since moved to ‘nicer’ areas. Many of them have decided that the People’s Assemblies, far from being ‘potential soviets’, were - ste pping stones to a seat on the city council when things returned to ‘normal’. And it is on this point that a strong blow is being dealt to these new forms of self-government. The sicken- ing treachery of the SDLP,-who are continuing ?

their policy of betraying those whom they claim to represent, has already weakened the ‘parliament of the streets’. We are not surprised (disgusted, but not surprised)that politicians of the John Hume ana Gerry Fitt type should feel uncomfortable when power is in the hand of the people. But it is surprising that the Republican Clubs should help foster parliamentary illusions. Their decision to take part in the local government elections (albeit on an abstentionist ticket) serves only to provide Whitelaw with propaganda and to weaken the will to resistance of the anti-Unionists.

The street committees and the People’s Assemblies .

should not be allowed to fade.away in order to assist the middle-class catholics in their greed for power, but rather to educate the working-class of the Six Counties in the knowledge of them own power.

They may not be incipient soviets but they are a challenge to the bourgeois state and can be part of a unified assault on imperialism.

The Plough June 1973. Page 3

Fascism is stalking the streets of Belfast, or so the papers of a few left groups would have us believe. More and more, recently, the word fascist has been hurled at a wide range of reactionaries North and South, from Cosgrave to Craig, but this has especially found its focus in the paramilitary, loyalist groups; the UVF and UDA. _ Obviously the nature of organisations which ~ eontrol so much of the Protestant working class is an important question for Irish revolutionaries. But is the UDA fascist, and if not, what does it represent, what is its ideology?

Before we consider these questions, though, we need to have a clear idea of what in fact fascism Be

A MARXIST ANSWER

The term fascist has certainly been used to — describe a bewildering range of states and individuals, from the racist George Wallace to the colonels’ regime in Greece. But what resemblance do these bear to the phenomenon that was successful in Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy in the 1930's? Very often, each description or use of the term has a grain of truth in it. But they all tend to.fall down, as an adequate definition, because they hit on only one aspect as the central characteristic of fascism and then mechanically apply that to all situations. For instance: ‘Wallace uses racial chauvinism and extreme nationalism — so did Hitler — Wallace must be a fascist. There is a strong secret police in South Africa — there was in Nazi Germany —.

South Africa must be a fascist state.’

However fascism, for Marxists, like any other social form, has to be seen as a whole. Just picking on one or two of its outward features isn’t going to give any insight into the key questions of its class nature, which class it benefits, and its historic role.

Trotsky in the 1930's made a thorough analysis of German National Socialism (see Trotsky: The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany ). He was, in fact, the only Marxist of the time to realise the full dangers posed by fascism, and to advocate tactics which would smash it. From this emerge a few basic points.

First, although the seeds of fascism exist in any bourgeois state, a fascist movement only = stands a chance when that state is in grave crisis. It is in fact a last ditch attempt of the capitalist class to radically change the balance of forces in production in their favour. The bourgeoisie will only resort to the drastic .

measure of civil war, with all the social up- UDA military-style funeral in Armagh.

The Plough June 1973 Page 4 heaval and risks it entails, if the conditions no longer allow them to make sufficient profits under the ‘usual’ norms of law, order and bourgeois democracy.

PROLETARIAT

There is only one way to achieve this, and here lies the vital difference between the racist or ~ strong states and fascism: the proletariat must .

be decisively defeated, atomised and declassed This does not:mean merely smashing the most advanced layers of the class, the vanguard and extreme left, although of course that will happen. But it is also a a of all working = Sir Edward Carson in action.

class organisations, trade unions, and social democratic parties, so that the class is reduced to an amorphous mass and kept there by a deep rooted bureaucracy. As Trotsky pointed out; having taken the risk of unleashing civil war, the bourgeoisie demands‘a thorough job.

_ But how can the bourgeoisie, a relatively small section of the population, achieve such a systematic destruction of the class identity of millions of workers. Of course, by themselves, the bourgeoisie are hardly adequate to the task. A mass movement is needed to do the work — one that is sufficiently dissatisfied to resort to violence, but also anti-communist and ~ anti-working class. Here emerges the third important factor, the petit-bourgeoisiec. In the ‘death-agony’ of capitalism, the petit-bourgeoisie will naturally suffer. They are driven to despair by rising inflation, which leaves liquid assets valueless and hits small inefficient units of production first; by‘ the failure of bourgeois democracy; and by high unemployment, which affects professional sectors as well as the proletariat.

The time is ripe for a mass movement and they are easily persuaded that their woes can be traced to the activities of'the working class.

Easily persuaded, that is, unless revolutionaries have used the crisis to show these layers that their interests lie with the working class and against the capitalists. This is the barbarism Marx posed as the alternative to revolutionary socialism in the era of decaying capitalism. Terror gangs roaming the streets, a secret police with its roots deep in the community and the bourgeoisie able to impose any conditions it requires on to the workers. It is precisely because the consequences of fascism are so grave for the working class, that revolutionaries must not cry ‘wolf.’ As Mandel ‘says in his introduction to The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany: *To declare the first skirmishes to be the decisive battle‘and to give the impression that fascism (whether ‘creeping’ or ‘open’) . is identical with the rather ineffective CRS in Paris or the West Berlin police thugs (read RUC?), is to dull the masses’ awareness of ‘the truly horrible danger that a fascism armed with today’s far more advanced .

technology would represent, It is to make the same fatal error that the KPD (German Communist Party in the 1930’s) leaders made from'1930-1933, when they characterised Bruening, Papen, Schleicher and Hugenberg as the incarnation of fascism, which in turn led the workers to

CRAIG'S TH

conclude that the monster wan’t nearly as bad as it was made out to be.’

tRELAND 1973? Ever since the formation of the Ulster Volunteers under Carson, large numbers of the Protestant working class have been mobilised, ” or organised in support of British Imperialism, under the leadership of right-wing de magogues.

Fhey have drilled in para-military style, and have carried out pogroms against the Catholic working class. Many of the elements of these reactionary mass‘movements have been characteristic elements of fascism, but they differ on all occasions in one important respect from fascism. Whereas the most important single fact about a fascist organisation is that it aims to smash all working class organisations, the dynamic of the reactionary Protestant organisations has been to-maintain a position of ascendancy and to support British Imperialism, in so far as it in turn supported a ‘Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People.’ To this end they have attempted to smash the democratic movements of the Catholic working class; they have formed one side of the classic racist situation of competition for jobs and houses. Racism is often an element of .fascism, and fascist ideologues have attempted A major problem in advancing the struggle for socialism in Ireland consists in understanding how the Cathohc'and Protestant workers can tz united in a common fight see British _ imperialism. Virtually all sections of the Irish Left are conscious of this problem. Yet very little progress has been made in posing an amswer to it. The usual attitude is characterised by a belief that some form of organic unity already exists and the task of socialists is merely to make both sides conscious of this unity.

The great danger of such an approach is that it leads to a schematic political perspective for the . current struggle. One need only think of the utopian fantasising of some of the Left, which sees in the rise of the UDA and LAW an inde- ~ pendent awakenirig of the Protestant workers.

Needless to say the same people see in the rise of the IRA and the republican movement a smothering of the initiative of the Catholic workers. This glaring contradiction in the Left’s position emphasises the unscientific basis of its approach.

CONSISTENT

A much more consistent schematism is represented by the Officials. Their belief in the essential organic unity of the Catholic and Protestant workers leads them to arbitrarily divide the struggle into three distinct and separate stages. While they do not imagine that itis yet possible to unite both sides in a joint battle against imperialism and, for socialism, they claim in their Freedom Manifesto that there is sufficient unity to allow a common _.

campaign for basic democratic rights. Accor- _ dingly they dogmatically separate the struggle for democracy from the struggle for unification, independence and socialism.

Because of this schematic plan, the Officials have been unable to grapple with the reality of the situation in the Six Counties. They have persistently failed to acknowledge, never mind explain, the hostile and bitter reaction of-the Protestant workers to even the minimal demand of the Catholic community for normal democratic rights. Rather than deal with the weaknesses of their analysis they have sought to cover them up, by laying the responsibility for the Protestant reaction at the feet of the Provos. However it is an historical fact that the Provos came into existence precisely because of this reaction. The foolhardy accusations of ‘agents of imperialism’ etc. hurled ~ against the Provos. have served only to increase _the isolation of the Officials.

RD REICH ?

to win the Loyalists to their political rag-bag; but despite superficial signs the Protestant organisations are not essentially anti-working class. But the UDA and Craig’s mass rallies recall fascism not only bécause of superficial resemblances but also because of their obvious counter-revolutionary. character. It is not a case of saying that-these forces do not represent fascism, therefore the working class need not oppose them. They must be opposed, but if they are misunderstood they will not be fought in the right ways, To call them fascist is to divert our attention from their real nature and how they can be fought.

It is extremely important to avoid confused ideas, precisely because the main task does not lie in’a struggle against fascism, but in one against imperialism and a really threatening ‘strong state.’ Our fight is not against Protestant organisations per se, but against British Imperialism, and the extent to which these organisations support and strengthen British Imperialism. It is especially important to realise this now, when thte differences and splits in the ‘Orange Monolith’ have opened up the possi- While this mistake of the Officials concerning the inter-relation of the Catholic and Protestant working class must be criticised strongly, - it should also be emphasised that it is an inevitable mistake which should be criticised and corrected in that context: That is to say, the failure to understand the nature of the _ divisions-between thé two communities is an historical failure of the Irish revolutionary tradition, and is not confined merely to the Officials or any individuals within it. What is called for, therefore, is an effort to show what consciousness in Ireland and an examination of those historical forces today.

REPUBLICANISM

The Republican tradition in Ireland was born and shaped at the beginning of the eighteenth century, This period in Irish history was ‘marked by the rise of a middle class in the Protestant planter community. This new middle class soon clashed with the mercantile interests of the mother country — Britain — and also of course with the interests of the Protestant landed aristocracy within the planter community which was the main bulwark of Britain’s interests in Ireland: In and by itself, the new Protestant middle class was incapable of challenging the might of its opponents. Initially their political move, Theobald Wolfe Tone he. Mufy Pie gett Sepa TTR el ot A oe historical forces have moulded the revolutionary bility for the Protestant working class to begin to break from the Orange bourgeoisie.

OUR OPPORTUNITY

The split in the Orange bourgeoisie, apparent since Faulkner came to power in 1969, and deepened by direct rule, has had its effects already in the Protestant rank and file. The hegemony over the working class that the Unionists have atways banked on is now by no means assured. The formation of the UVF and the support for Paisley from 1966-1969 was the traditional gut reaction. But by August 1971 and the formation of the UDA the situation had changed in three ways: 1. It was initiated from the rank and file.

2. The-currents running through the UDA were not homogeneous and varied from ultra-nationalism and racism to embry onic interest in socialism. 3. The bourgeoisie’s bid to draw the Protestant working class back as David Bolton puts it, ‘under the frayed but familiar skirts of official unionism,’ led by Craig, was by no means assured, and was fought, if unsuccessfully. 3 Siroceo factory, be — an organising base for LAW ment, the Unite men, was-unable to make any significant ‘mies on the political situation in Ireland. But.the great social and economic discontent of the Irish Catholic peasantry, which was suffering undet the heel of the Anglican aristocracy, suggested away forward to them. They realised that tHe disaffection of the Catholic masses‘could be used as. a lever.

against the aristocracy and ultimately against Britain. A fusion of the Catholic peasantry and the Protestant middle class was effected at a practical level by the absorption of the secret Catholic agrarian societies, the Defenders, into the United Irishmen. And this organisational _ bond was strengthened by the formulation of a new national creed, which proclaimed the suppression of religious animosity in the name of a new spirit of solidarity. In the famous words of Wolfe Tone, the aim of the United Irishmen was to: ‘abolish the memory: of all past dissénsions, and to substitute the common name of Irishmen in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter.’

Such were the conditions and circumstances under. which the idea first arose that the Protestant planter community had been assimilated into the historic Irish nation. From this period dates the concept-of the relationship between Catholic and Protestant communities which lies subconsciously behind the present strategy of the Officials. At the time, of _gourse, this idea was a progressive and potent During the next period, as the: White Paper strategy breaks down and the inability of Craig and co. to do anything material for the Protestant working class is revealed, revolutionaries. must be ready to recognise any autonomous initiatives by the Protestant one. It prepared the way for the 1798 rebellion, which if-badly organised and poorly led was nonetheless the first national uprising of the Irish people in the name of the new.

democracy spreading across Europe. However, its essential force lay in the fact that it was the reflection of a real process of unification Craig at mass loyalist <5 after announcement of direct rule.

working class, and be prepared to drive further wedges in the cracks which will hasten the end of Orangeism. Pat Glover During the first five decades of the next century, however, the structure of Protestant capitalism changed radically. New-techniques and technical innovations began to be applied to production and the yolume of output increased significantly. The industry was-put onan entirely new footing: The self-sufficient domand assimilation. In judging the potential of the estic artisans were wiped out and replaced by Republican concept for today’s struggle we'e must use this fact as a basic criterion.

EVOLUTION

Does the traditional Republican concept correspond to the present relationship between the Catholic and Protestant communities? To answer this scientifically it is necessary to analyse briefly the subsequent evolution of the Protéstant community after 1798, Prior to the nineteenth century Protestant capitalism was only at an embryonic stage. It was still domestic in character and largely dependent on the Irish market. Interestingly enough, the most enthusiastic and tenacious supporters of the United Irishmen among the Protestants were the domestic artisan weavers and spinners plus the drapers who were responsible for organising the native market.

The ordinary Protestant peasantry and the bleachers, who were large-scale merchants associated with the aristocracy were more subservient to Britain and more inclined towards.

Orangeism. factories which depended initially at least on Britain for capital and capital equipment. Our put grew se rapidly that the local market was unable to absorb it, and Britain soon became an important outlet. - These changes altered the attitude of the Protestant middle class, hegemonising the planter community once more as the loyal outpost of British imperialism. We may note the rapidity with which many former stalwarts of the United Irishmen became reconciled tothe Union with Britain. We may also note the growth of Toryism, or more precisely Conservatism, among the Northern Protestant bourgeoisie after the 1830’s. In a word, the thrust towards Protestant and Catholic unity which made itself felt at the end of the eighteenth century had well and truly been thrown into reverse by the middle of the following century.

The simple answer to the question we posed.

above, then, is that the Republican concept of Catholic — Protestant unity haslong beena ~~ hollow ‘myth’, which evokes no response with-in the Protestant community.

The Schools Movement Over the past few years there has been a proliferation of unions, councils and groups among secondary students. These have been in general based in Dublin, with small pockets of support sprinkled throughout the country. They have tended to spring up as a result of militant upsurges among secondary teachers, which in the ‘67-71 period were an almost annual These upsurges always showed students just — how helpless a sector'they were, and as a result the tension-filled schools were.a ready made field for secondary student mobilisation. The resultant student unions usually issued demands for a more democratic schools system, freedom of dress, assembly, and of political and religious views. Due to the relative size, structure, and concentration of secondary schools, and because of the very — nature of secondary students, such unions of __ students never lasted very long—nor was their .

influence very wide-ranging.

The latest in a long line of such unions is IUSS (Irish Union of School Students). This group is attached to the Government sponsored ‘National Youth Council’ and the USI (Union of Students in Ireland). It appears to model itself to a large extent on the British NUSS (National Union of School Students), the memberslfip of which has been estimated at 7000. The IUSS was formed by members of the Official Sinn Fein, with the apparent assent of ‘the ‘Gardiner Place’ leadership. Since then its membership has remained virtually static, with exception of some contacts in the major tural centres. The aims of the union have been ambiguous at the best of times. They have ranged from: ‘the right to organise, the right of free speech and the right of assembly’, ‘education not examination’, ‘a proper say in schools for students’—right down to: ‘Democratic control of schools’, ‘abolition of all exams, streaming and the right of the dept. of Education’.

The latter demands however have of late been covered over by the present leadership of Don Conlon, Tony Kinsella and Tomas McCiurnaigh (all members of Sinn Fein). Even on the issue of repression in the schools, Mr. Conlon tells ali.the union members in one of his numerous circulars: ‘unfortunately for those schools involved there is little we can do at the moment about the conditions in many Irish schools as we are waiting for a reply from the “Joint Managerial Board”.’ The three mini-bureaucrats mentioned above maintain hegemony over what is now only a ‘rump’ of an organisation, containing mainly ‘middle class trendies’ along with some school students who are genuinely interested in ad- Women Internees Write.

DO YOU CARE ABOUT POLITICAL

PRISONERS?

Apparently not many do, so we, the women political prisoners of Armagh, would like to make it known to the public about the cramped conditions in which we have to survive. In the wing there ate'25 women and there are inadequate facilities to accommodate them all.

The bathroom consists of two baths, two toilets (one does not work) and four small wash-hand basins. The only sink available for: .

washing clothes in is the one that has existed since the prison was built. The railing round the cat walk serves as a substitute for a clothes line thus making the wing more cramped.

Also with so many women in the wing it is necessary to have a sick bay, because in the case of an illness peace and quiet are needed. In the recreation yard there is a hut which is sup- . posed to be a TV room but is used for crafts, games, discussions and a rest room. Time and time again we have been promised games equipment but as yet we have received none of these.

We must point out that this is a women’s prison, but yet we occupy only one small wing of the.

building. There is a gym and a huge recreation yard over in B wing but these facilities are close to us as they are used by borstal offenders. We know our needs.are small in comparison with our comrades in Long Kesh, but there must be — room for improvement when we have women serving sentences from five to twelve years.

Liberty and Strength, The Women Political Prisoners of Armagh Gaol.

The Plough June 1973 Page 6 .

opting a serious attituae towards the educational system. While this has been the usual make-up of schools-unions in Ireland, the [USS has taken all the worst aspects of such associations and generalised them within its own setup. As can be seen from its. programme, its intention is to put forward reformist demands in the.hope of building a ‘mass movement’ among schools students, The 1USS, despite .all its massive pretensions, has degenerated into a complete.

charade with members of Sinn Fein involved getting pretty ‘pissed-off’ with the careerist_ wranglings of its leadership.

By RORY McNEILL That these people should be allowed to use the name of Sinn Fein as a cover for their exploits, without being answerable to the same organisation, is a very dangerous precedent which can do nothing but damage to Sinn Fein. It is, however, a price that any revolutionary organisation inevitably pays for not having a rigorously centralised method of intervention. Otherwise leeway is left open to all sorts of dilettantes to bungle whole sectors of intervention.

DEMOCRATIC DEMANDS

The politically conscious members of the IUSS are still convinced that.they can build their.

union on the basis of their present demands, which call for basic democratic rights for school students. But whilst these demands in themselves are quite correct they fail to come to grips with the two major problems that face any group that wishes to revolutionise the schools system. These are: (i) the nature of the Irish educational system .

and its relationship to the present economic and political conjuncture in Ireland; and (ii) the nature of the secondary student mass and its present stage of physical and political development. Obviously capitalism cannot at any time allow a fully democratic schools system, as this would_ necessarily entail students being able to change both the structure of the schools and the content of education itself. While the former is conceivably permissible according to the needs of capitalism, the latter-would mean that the schools would no longer serve e-ither the labour market or bourgeois society in general. At present certain reforms in the content and structure of Irish education are needed in order to bring us into line with projected economic and social development— but there can never be a free and democratic educational system until the hold of the labour market and of the class that imposes it on society is broken. pe ‘On Bureaucracy, by Ernest Mandel (IMG .Publication, 15p)/Peter Hampton .This pamphlet by Ernest Mandel attempts to analyse that extremely complex phenomenon, ‘the bureaucracy.’ It identifies very clearly in -Marxist terms what motivates and determines the behaviour of trade union officials, whether they be at the bottom of the apparatus, dealing with the day-to-day factory problems, or members of the General Council attempting to doa deal at 10 Downing St. The dialectic of partial conquests (i.e. don’t gamble with what you have already won) is explained in terms which allow us to understand the type of demands the CP raise when a struggle is about to break out. Mandel explains in the introduction that the purpose.of the pamphlet is to distinguish two -main aspects of the problem — the theoretical and the historical — and to answer the following.questions: . — Whafis working class bureaucracy? How d does it emerge and develop? How can it wither away? + What concrete forms does the phenomenon of bureaucracy take in the history of the working class? — What: attitudes have the various tendencies inside the working class movement taken to- © wards the problem of bureaucracy?

Therefore the-goal of social revolution is necessarily an objective need of any movement that struggles for a free.and democratic schools system—indeed the struggle in the schools is thus inseparable from the struggle for socialism. If this link is to be forged, the school students themselves must be analysed.

In general, school students cannot be organised successfully into a union structure. This is because they simply don’t have any cohesive - class or social interests—they are a very transient layer which can only be mobilised in times of social or political crisis or for small periods-on issues that directly affect them. In the past, any mobilisation of secondary students in Ireland has been either on issues of political significance (e.g. Derry massacre, Offences Amendment Act) or on issues that directly affected them (e.g.the teachers’ strikes and the detention of Derry teachers.)

Even the NUSS in Britain is presently suffering a decline in membership and interest due mainly to its lack of understanding of this fundamental point. It is also in debt for a considerable amount to the National Union of Students. All of the upsurges among secondary students in Ireland have been short lived, with handfuls of politically conscious students along with small student groupings being thrown up in‘the process. In such circumstances any group of students with a perspective for ‘building a union’ is quite clearly ill-equipped to exploit the situation to their own advantage. They will simply either be disorientated themselves by it or the struggle will pass them by leaving those under their influence frustrated and confused.

In times of relative calm, such a union simply degenerates into the shambles that IUSS is today, with nothing but a long term perspective for setting up holiday travel schemes for secondary students. WHAT IS TO BE DONE a There is however a clear alternative to such a strategy. From.a clear analysis of the development of the Irish education system, the weaknesses and futuifé crisis points can be discerned. From this any group of socialist students must put forward demands that will form a bridge between the present level of consciousness of secondary students and their objective needs, i.e, socialism.

These demands must be supplemented by. all basically democratic demands, e.g. the right to organise, freedom of political and religious beliefs, etc. The latter demands must always be fought for, because it is onitheir success that the basis will be built for more politically developed struggles. They are. however not enough by themselves. Only when they are combined with demands that make the link between The pamphlet is structured in two parts. The first part looks at some basic Marxist concepts, and studies in detail the roots of bureaucracy; the dialectic of partial conquests; bureaucratic privileges; and the bureaucratisation of the workers’ states. Mandel raises a whole range of problems which will whet the reader’s appetite and if.the intention is to give us an indication of some future fuller text, then I await its publication with eagerness. However I hope the waiting will not be too long, as this pamphlet is insufficient initself.

CONTRADICTIONS

For example, the analysis of the emergence of a full time apparatus and the need for specialists, and of the contradictions which emerge from that process, is very illuminating, but some of the contradictions appear to remain unanswered. The dialectic that on the one hand the revolutionary movement would like to zmploy the best functionaries and therefore | must compete in a market wage structure, and that on the othey hand it must attempt to apply the rule of Marx — that full timers should be paid the same as a skilled worker — needs further investigation with some precise conclusions. Mandel deals very effectively with the conclusions drawn by various Marxists on the way to prevent bureaucratisation, for example the thesis developed by the ‘Socialisme ou Barbarie’ group, who argued that the © way to prevent bureaucratisationin the | -workers’ states was to abolish all wage/differentials. However I think he is on extremely dubious ground when hé goes on to conclude that the effect of eliminating wage differentials is to remove an incentive for workers to learn new skills!(p.10). Even in bourgeois society there is little evidence that workers who -ploit these weaknesses. Part of London schools demonstra n last year—gave” f only a temporary boost to British NUSS.

Ph CR Ses EAT aa AE roa EES Se the struggles and day-to-day experiences of students, and the struggle for socialism are they revolutionary. Demands must be formulated, for example on democracy in schools, not on the basis of the right of students to govern themselves but against the right of the capitalist class to interfere in the education of students. The former criterion can of course lead to a position where students and teachers actually form the governing board of a school, and become far more efficient disciplinarians for the bourgeoisie than the older ‘less democratic’ governing board. Thus a clear concept of the respective needs of students and of the capitalist class is the only basis upon which the educational system can be effectively opposed. It is not enough just to realise the characteristic weaknesses of the educational system. It is also, of course, of primary importance that such a realisation be translated into an effective instrument to ex- Such an instrument (as was explained above) is not a ‘student union’. Only a group of students who are politically conscious can initially perform such tasks, Only such a group can intervene _currectly and win over students on the basis of its programme and its actions, Only sucha group can effectively link the struggle in the schools to the struggle for the overall liberation of society. A group like [USS is incapable by its very nature of ever making any worthwhile gains either for itself or-for students in general.

_ If the more conscious secondary students are intent upon channelling the fight in the schools into the broader struggle for socialism in_ Ireland they will have to learn the lessons of IUSS and its predecessors, draw the necessary conclusions, and transcend this particular conception of student organisation.

go into skilled jobs are primarily motivated by income expectations. | Where Mandel is really at his best isin the second part of the pamphlet; which deals with the bureaucracy in the workers’ States. There is also a section which deals with what are called the six phases of the bureaucratic phenomenon, in which he summarises problems identified by Marx, Kautsky, Lenin, Trotsky and Rosa Luxemburg in a yery precise and clear manner.

The section on the workers’ states is extremely -'good on the origins of bureaucratic degeneration, especially where it deals with the period of transition after 1917 in the Soviet Union, and the degeneration of the Bolshevik Party during the 1920s. Arguing that the errors made were not, tactical but ‘political and institutional’ he examines three in particular: (i) the ban on factions inside the party (I.S.

pléase note); (ii) the introduction of the single-party practice; and (iii) the failure to understand the :organic links between Soviet power, collective ownership and the need for ‘primitive socialist accumulation.’ Finally Other arguments taken up include the theory of ‘state capitalism’ as it applies to the bureau ‘cracy in the workers’ states (i.e. is it a class or a social layer?). If it is a class, what is its class relation in a society with a non-capitalist mode of production? Mandel effectively polishes off that particular problem. As Mandel states at the beginning, the pamphlet has an introductory purpose — I await with interest the full text!

‘On the Two Nations Theory’ An RMG Pamphlet by Robert Dorn

AVAILABLE. SOON

' INDOCHINA

TOWARDS A

NEO-COLONY?

‘If the United States has always proclaimed that it intervened in Indochina in order to defend _ the West against Communism, this is not its real motivation. For instance, the involvement of the USAin ~\ support of French imperialism in the First War of Indochina was clearly explained by Eisenhower in 1953‘ ‘Let us suppose that we lose Indochina ... the tin and tungsten of this region would stop coming... Therefore, when the USA votes a credit of § 400,000,000 to help the war, that’s not a waste of money.

We vote for the cheapest means to prevent events with bad implications for the States, for their security, our power and ability to obtain material we need, the wealth of the Indo-~ ~ chinese countries and of South East Asia.’ This has been stressed time and time again. In 1968 the president of the Bank of America and Nixon’s adviser, Rudolph A. Peterson stated that: ‘There is not a larger and richer country for the development of resources and commercial extension in the world today than this immense region.’ (California. Business Magazine Sept.—Oct:..1968). More recently, the discovery of important sources of fuel on both sides of the 17th Parallel has prdvided another powerful incentive for the US to stay in the region.

- SHIFT INSTRATEGY

The:fundamental project of the USA in this part of the world has been to maintain South- East Asia in the capitalist orbit, but the strategy can change. Once, John Foster Dulles stated: ‘There are two ways to conquer a _ foreign nation. Either to control its people by the means of armed occupation, or to win the control of its economy through pasted means,” The US has had to renounce the former path because of one of the strongest liberation movements in history. That was shown by the analysis of the Pentagon Papers summed up recently by Daniel Ellsberg before his judges: ‘the Pen- | tagon Papers show that the USA could not overcome in Vietnam, for the part of the population which resisted the occupation was so determined, so well led, so confident and even receiving the support of the other part of the population, that it was impossible to control the whole territory without liquidating the whole population of South-Vietnam.’ The US government’s understanding of the imposst bility of military success in Indochina explains the change towards China.

Hence the new strategical project in Indochina: to establish a neo-colonial system, To achieve this, the already ‘gigantic’ financial help to South Vietnam has been increasing. For instance, economic assistance to Thieu from June *72 to June ’73 wil! be about § 510 millions and this will increase for ’73 to ’74; to 748 millions (US News & World Report). This money is directed at financing important projects where US imperialism will have a controlling share in the future. The “Mekong project’ is one of them: 28 dams on the Mekong River Vietcong suspect is executed.

are to be built to produce electricity for Southern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia.

DICTATORSHIPS

But in order to achieve these economic results, the USA must first strengthen the dictatorships - in the different countries of Indochina. One can see the role of organisations such as the AID (Agency for International Development, in fact a cover for the CIA as so many examples in Latin America have shown) in the ‘plans for refugees’ as they are modestly called: This involves the building of strategical bases or concentration camps and jails; e.g. the ‘Phoenix - Program’ which officially aims to neutralise the FNL apparatus. “As the parliamentary commisision of the Phoenix Program stated in July 1971: ‘The dollars of the income-taxea Americans have allowed the development of the police and para-military units who arrest suspects.’

One of the ‘pillars’ of the Phoenix Program, Intelligence Officer K.B. Osborn, said openly: ‘Personally, during one year and a half, I haven’t known anybody, arrested as a Vietcong suspect, who has survived.’ The measures taken by the US government since the Paris ‘Agreements’ also mean the reinforcement of the military dictatorship of Thieu.

Before the signature of the treaty, the US built up its supplies to such an extent that today the South Vietnamese Air Force is the third largest in the world. In April of this year, US News and World Report mentioned that tanks and other material were rusting because of the lack of technicians compared with the amount of material! Nixon has foreseen this possibility: 10,000 ‘technicians’ will be staying in Vietnam.

To replace US forces, the American government expects help from its allies. The Israeli paper Maariv reported on 18 December, 1972, that ‘Israel will soon provide tactical assistance to the Saigon army in co-ordination with the USA’.

A further move was to strengthen the bases encircling Indochina as soon as the troop withdrawals began. Thailand now has 54,000 Gls, the Seventh Fleet has 60,000, there are 18,400 in the Philippines, 14,000 in Guam Island, one of the main B-52 bases, and 6,000 in Taiwan.

One must also include the 25,000 in.Hawaii, and finally 75,000 who are stationed in Japan.

Ttoal: 252,400 soldiers ready to intervene in Indochina!

NO TRUCE IN OUR SUPPORT

Although Nixon has signed the treaty, the antiimperialist movement throughout the world cannot trust this war criminal. In fact,.even if the actual strategy is to-strengthen the police regime of Thieu, the bombing of the North _ Vietnamese dikes (June—July, 1972), the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong last December, and the even more intensive bombing of Cambodia have proved that Nixon still believes in the efficiency of such means. The anti-im perialist movement, emphasising the actual reinforce- ° ment of the Saigon regime, must be vigilant that the 27 January agreement is not violated: For Unconditional Political Opposition fo Campora The following statement was issued on 15 May by the United Secretariat of the Fourth International. The March 11 elections marked a turning point in the political situation in Argentina. The Peronist ground swell undermined the attempt of the Lanusse regime to put across the Gran Acuerdo Nacional and compelled the Argentine bourgeoisie to accept a neo-Peronist government. The incoming Campora administration will seek to exploit inter-imperialist contradictions and to gain mass support through populist demagogy. In the final analysis, the turn in Argentina came as a consequence of the powerful mobilisations of the masses and the courageous actions of the vanguard. The resulting new situation will serve to step up the militancy of the working class and other exploited layers still further.

Sectors of the army have not yet renounced attempts at.a reactionary coup d’etat even before the inauguration of Campora. This is because they fear that the new government will be swept aside in the near future. Nonetheless, a coup appears unlikely inasmuch as the decisive sectors of the ruling class are aware that it could provoke a very sharp response from the masses and the outbreak of a civil war, the outcome of which would be in doubt.

In the new stage now opening up, the Argentine revolutionists will take their place in the front ranks of the coming mass mobilisations with .

the perspective of a major confrontation and a struggle for power. Their objective will be to influence and to organise the vanguard layers that are slipping out of the control of the union bureaucracy and the demagogic ideology of Peronism. They will at the same time call for vigilance against any military coup d’etat and propose the development of workers’ selfdefence. They will warn against any illusions in parliamentarism and gradualism.

While not excluding critical support for possible anti-imperialist measures that might be enacted -by the Campora government, they will maintain an attitude of unconditional political opposition to this new bourgeois government.

They will carry on an unceasing struggle for the emancipation of the working class from the influence of bourgeois ideology, the bourgeois political organisations, and the grip of the super-bureaucratised union apparatus. They will fight. for the independent organisation of the proletariat and other exploited layers with the perspective of establishing popular committees. They will battle for the building of a mass revolutionary Leninist party.

Inflation and the World TradeCrisis Inflation is as much a part of the modern capitalist system as maggots are to bad meat. .

The application of Keynesian techniques by bourgeois governments.to keep their economies on an even keel is a major source of inflation at the best of times. The recent world-wide trade - recession has merely exacerbated this inherent trend. ~ One of the reasons why there has been a high level of employment maintained in advanced capitalist countries for most of the time since the Second World War, is the extensive amount of state expenditure on armaments, social welfare programmes, motorway construction, etc. A fairly significant sector of the working class has beén engaged in this ty pe of employment which does not produce commodities .

for the open market; armaments is an obvious example. The purchasing power of the population has therefore been increased without a proportionate increase in the amount of consumer goods put on the market to meet the demands of this excess purchasing power.

Under these circumstances price rises, inflation are bound to occur. Because public expenditure in the major — capitalist states accounts for 12 to 20% of the gross national product we can see immediately why inflation is inevitable even in the most stable conditions.

RECESSION

I stated earlier that trade recessions intensified the growth of inflation. Why is this so?

During the course of any generalised recession, workers are made redundant, and the manufacture of industrial products drops. But because of the vast amount of public expenditure the falling off in the purchasing power of the working class does not occur in sympathy with ‘the decrease in the production of goods. The number of consumer goods for sale is thus being chased by a relatively higher level of money still in circulation. As we noted before this situation naturally leads to price increases to absorb the excess purchasing capacity. But the methods employed to fight recessions by modern governments give’ a further boost to the inflationary spiral. Since 1945 cyclical down-turns in production have not developed to such a thorough going crisis as was experienced in 1929 because the bourgeoisie have consciously combatted recessions by an increase in public expenditure.

More money is pumped into the economy and after a while the economy revives in response . to increased demand. But though the crisis has been prevented from culminating into a pre-war style depression the injection of state funds into the system gives inflation a shot in the Capitalism i is faced with the choice of either depression or inflation, it cannot sidestep the crisis without falling into the frying pan of inflation. The international character of inflation is merely indicative of the international character of the recession which started in 1969, Inflation could be tolerated if there was an expanding world market, but the present aod marked by an intense trade war which is developing between the various rival capitalist countries.

America’s pretensions to being the dominant trading power in the world are being challenged by Japan, Western Germany and the other European states. Inflation for all these countries is bad because it tends to price their exports out of the world market.

REAL WAGES

To hold down prices it is necessary to cut back the working class’s real wages and increase the rate of profit. Virtually all the main industrial countries have witnessed attempts by their respective bourgeoisies to reduce the real wages of their proletariats. The means to achieve this end are many. and varied. All the states have seen combinations of the following tactics: deliberately fostered unemployment, wage freezes, prices and incomes policies, productivity deals, state legislation on industrial relations, integration of trade union bureaucracies into the state structure, rationalisations and redundancies. The fact that these methods are common to many couniries is a clear pointer to the international nature of the crisis of capitalism. The general boom that preceded the 1969 down-turn has not passed us by without having any effect on the working class. The long periods of full employment enabled strong trade union structures to be established. This, coupled with the fact that none of these working class movements have suffered a serious defeat since the war, makes it. very unlikely.that they will allow their living standards to be eroded without a hard feught struggle. The long-term slow-down in the growth of world trade will continue in the 1970's (any boom that occurs in the immediate future will be short lived) and this means an intensification of the inter-imperialist trade war, attacks on the living conditions and organisations of the working class and extremely explosive confrontations between the bourgeoisie and theproletariat. Future recessions will only be dampened down by increasing the doses of inflation. The word - inflation is likely to remain in popular usage for some considerable time yet.

The Plough June 1973 Page 7

The last few weeks have seen an upsurge of interest and attention paid to the whole position of women, economically, politically and socially, in Ireland.

This is partly as a result of a report recently published by the Commission on the Status of Women..A detailed and comprehensive study, it offers many ‘new’ ideas and suggestions as to how women may be given equal citizenship with men. Among these are: 1. _. Equal pay for all females employed throughout the work-force.

2: Greater income-tax relief for married working women. 3. Special retraining programmes for women of middle-age returning-to work or entering the work-force for the first time.

4. _ Better social-welfare allowances for deserted wives, to include unmarried mothers, 5. The creation of creches, in‘all a of employment. 6. _ Maternity leave to be oblisatoly, ofa sufficient period. Recommended period is approximately eight weeks.

7. The establishment of Day-Care Centres and nurseries for the benefit of all veRDS mothers. 8. The establishment of family planning centres throughout the country.

These are only a few of the 49 proposals in the report, but are obviously the most important and basis. Most important, they cut across the whole position of women at present in Irish society.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

For any state to concede to all of these propo- .Sals and undertake to implement them would seriously disrupt its whole economy. Already the coalition has made its feelings on the report quite clear. Mr. Richie Ryan’s ‘substantial but not contplete’ agreement is a sure indication of what we can expect. Certain demands will of necessity be met; for instance, greater tax allowances for married women can only benefit the employers. Already we have seen the increasing influx of women into the work-force, especially manufacturing industry. With the expected expansion of light consumer industry, within the EEC, a massive leap in the number of women entering the work-force is on the cards.

The increasing radicalisation of women also .

means that certain efforts will have to be made to prevent this development from going beyond minimal demands.” In face of this expansion, ‘women will have to be given a certain amount of freedom for their biological functions, so certain liberal-reforms in the areas of family planning (i.e. contraception) are a certainty.

But such facilities will-be limited, and it may be some time before they appear.

As for creches, that depends on the individual employer, on the type of industry concerned, the number of women employed and of course its effects on the surplus product — the profits! ~ Experience has shown that unless these reforms are defined clearly and reinforced by state legislation, the employers will find all kinds of loopholes and manoeuvres they can nse to avoid the full implementation of the “proposals.

MANOEUVRES

It would of course be extremely naive to believe that even with legislation the implementation of equal pay laws would be effected.

Already, the dangers that could ensue have been stressed both in the report and by the Women’s Advisory Committee of the Irish Congress of Trades Unions: In the United States, for example, ‘equal pay’ laws have been in existence for ten years, but women have been classified as ‘suitable for certain jobs.’ In

REVOLUTIONARY

MARXIST

GROUP

(Irish supporters of the Fourth International) 38 Clanawly Road,

DUBLIN 5

! would like more information about the RMG and its activities. Onn CUS eDenacerenonedoeestenesescceasoneveoneseaeoees SHOR CO RCO Oe ORE ens as eee seseesEsbesseresecosonsoesesesees enecnenes The Plough June 1973 Page 8 PIGuT Ui ACTION COR! ATtOW

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

The Weaknesses of the Report on the Status of Women ~__outlined above have deep roots. One has only to look at the gross imbalances in the educational system to see that women have not really got an ‘equal chance.’

other words, the creation of all-female jobs has occurred. In the manufacturing industry in Ireland, where 31% of all employed are women, certain work routines could become a female speciality. This could also happen in the By EVE ADAM ‘professional’ category of the Industrial Group, where women constitute 75% of all those employed. Even in secretarial work, where onequarter of working women at work are to be found, certain work-duties could become purely ‘female jobs’. There is absolutely nothing to prevent such ‘female jobs’ from remaining the poorest paid.

The worst example of this type of situation is the clothing trade. In this group, women are 82.6% of the actual number employed, but the average hourly rate of pay for a female is 33.6p compared to that of 60p per hour fora male. Employers in the textile industry are Susan Lamont isa national organiser with the Women’s National Abortion Action Coalition (WONAAC) in the USA, and a member of the Socialist Workers Party (in solidarity with the Fourth International). She is currently on a 10-week tour of Europe, and while in Ireland gave this exclusive interview to The Plough.

— In the United States, in France, in Belgium, in Italy, there have been mass mobilizations on the question of abortion in the past few months. Why do you think that this question has come to the fore so suddenly? This fact springs from the feeling that women must contro! their own bodies, as a necessary precondition to total liberation. Theabortion question has been a focal point for women’s liberation movements in all the countries where they have arisen.

— Many people consider the foetus to be a human being and hold abortion to be murder. How would you answer such objections?

Well, our attitude in WONAAC is that the argument that a foetus is a human being is a. philosophical and religious one, held only by some people who are a minority in the world. Indeed they are entitled to hold such an opinion. However, our point is, that particular religious and philosophical - views should not be codified as law. This is of particular importance in relation to the Catholic Church, where such a view is identical to their own position on this question, although people who are not Catholics also hold'this view. It is a fundamental question of a Democratic Right, as is also the question of the separation of Church and State. We feel it is incorrect to legislate ‘morality’ and the women’s movement has always been the one that has stood on the side of religious freedom. However, it is they, who don’t hold that a foetus is a human being, whose religious and moral freedom has been violated. If others believe that a foetus is a human being, then.

logically they should not have an abortion. Our - point is that they should not prevent those who think differently from having them.

— As you discovered on the Liam Nolan radio programme, some people argue apart from retigious and philosophical views, that scientifically spaaking, the foetus is a human being. in your experience, do you think there is any basis for such a belief?

The question of when life begins is something which has been in dispute for thousands of years. There is no agreement between the scientific and medical communities on this question, It remains a very increasingly hiring all female staff, especially in the 14—21 age group. These are.an excellent supply of cheap labour. In a situation where men and women are employed for the same jobs, hairdressing for example, equal pay may be won. But ina society riddled with such concepts as ‘a woman’s-place is in the home’ what real equality can there be? Some women may enjoy equal pay for a few years but then most likely they will return to the kitchen sink. Even today only approximately one-fifth of all women work outside the home. Even if women return to a job, new pay-scales will be there to greet them, as in the case of married women in Aer Lingus, Telefis Eireann or the Civil Service. The time of absence may. be only a few months but there is nothing to prevent such injustice.

ROOT CAUSES

The conditions that give rise to the situations abstract. question, In the US, for example, the majority of doctors and scientists engaged in this field, do not agree with the belief that-life begins at the moment of conception. This question will be debated time and time again perhaps until we have a socialist society where people will be educated to a materialist view of the world.

— One of the leading anti-abortion forces throughout the world is the Roman Catholic Church. What has been their role in your experience?

The Catholic Church has been in the forefront of this movement,in the States known as the ‘Right to Life’ movement, They financed, organised and mobilized _ this movement which in some areas has become quite powerful. When the first liberal law on abortion was.

passed in New York in 1970, they began to organise @ national movement to prevent any further liberalisation of the laws, and to roll back the law already passed. As.abortion became a more central political issue, they began to gain more momentum as so also did the Abortion Rights movement. They organised mass demonstrations, had mass-leafletting, etc. They played a very pernicious role and even succeeded in having the New York laws repealed. These were only saved by the veto of the New York governor. It’s not correct simply to dismiss this movement as a fanatical lunatic, fringe movement. In reality, they were able to play on the deep confusion and profound prejudices which existed around this question. We would have to say, however, that they became a shrinking minority as our demonstrations and our educational materialbegan to reach wider layers of people. One point that should be stressed, in our opinion, is that this so-called concern for the unborn-foetus isnot the underlying motivation for the movement. In reality we believe they are trying to prevent the growth of the Women’s Liberation movement. This has been borne‘out, by their shifting of forces against the Equal Rights Amendment Bill, They say that the reason they are against the Bill is because ‘women are not equal’ and use ample quotations — from the Bible. — Apart from the Church, there are many other vested interests. Nixon, for example, declared publicly against abortion. Why do you think that so many sections of capitalist society are against abortion? The situation is now, that the Supreme Court has made a decision that all states must_supply any woman with'an abortion up to the sixth month of pregnancy, and even after the sixth month if the physical or mental health of that woman is in danger.

Now of course, when the Supreme Court makes a ~ decision, even though it applies to all the States, it With all these ‘inequalities’ balanced against it, the Report has very little chance of being implemented comprehensively. But such a fact must not prevent radical women from demanding that it should. Pressure must be placed on the Irish Congress of Trade Unions; to make sure that the proposals are implemented without any manoeuvring by the employers and the bourgeois state. Female trade unionists should begin to discuss how to apply such pressure, and they must be on their guard against any side-stepping.

FOR THE FULL AND IMMEDIATE

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 49

PROPOSALS!

NO:-MORE LIP SERVICE FROM THE ~

ICTU!

INTERVIEW WITH U.S. WOMEN’S ACTIVIST

takes a very long-time for it to be implemented, for each State torewrite its laws, etc. This is one danger that WOMAAC is very aware of. We demand that those right-wing legislators and those hospital authorities who morally disagree with abortion should be made to implement these laws.

One thing that the Supreme Court decision very clearly verifies is the /mpact of the women’s movement and the Abortion Rights movement on American society. A myth has existed for a long time, that the Supreme Court convenes somewhere on Mount Olympus, and is not subject to social pressures.

If this were the case, such a decision would not have been made. The very wording of the new laws as expressing a ‘woman's right to choose’ clearly shows the impact of the mass sentiment that exists around the women’s movement. One of the keystones of women’s oppression and one of the main vehicles used to° maintain women in the role of wife, mother, housekeeper, etc, has been the use of women as breeders — by denying them the Right to cantrol their own bodies. This aspect has been for hundreds of years codified as law through the illegality of abortion and of contraception. The government has a very, clear stake in the abortion -issue, the laws have only been changed subject to mass pressure. Nixon, for example, as you said, came out.against abortion, as it denied the ‘sanctity of life.’ This from a man responsible for the mass bombings of the Vietnamese people!

— Susan, you are now on an international tour.

You're quite familiar with the conditions of women internationally. From your stay in ireland, how would you rate the situation of Irish women?

| have travelled extensively, and it seems to me . that Irish women are among the most oppressed sections of women in the advanced capitalist countries of Europe. The standard here even falls below those of Spain and Italy. Definitely Irish women are among the most down-trodden layers of Irish society, which in effect renders them among the po tentially revolutionary and explosive layers of trish society. Some local branches-ef the RMG also publish papers. READ: The Worker and Irish Trotskyist (papers of the Limerick and Belfast branches) .

AVAILABLE: Limerick—from sellers; Belfast—from 72 Castle Street, Belfast; or from 38 Clanawly Road, Dublin.

Published by Reigocrest for The Plough, 38 Clanawly Road, Dublin 5, and printed by F.I, Litho (T.U.) Ltd., 182 Pentonville Road, London N.1,