In issue No.34 we carried an attack by a political militant on occupations as strategy within educational institutions. Here we publish a reply to this by David Page, a lecturer in General Studies at Hornsey College of Art. Page, whose contract has been terminated at the end of this term, played a significant role in the Hornsey affair.
Like the puritan sects of religious his. tory the left has an abrasive, sometimes numbing, capacity to question its own motives. Of course critical examination of the effect, or probable effect, of this or that action is vital, but what does not help is confusion between theory and fact, and between level and level.
The political militant who wrote about occupations in Dwarf 34 exhibits characteristic confusions. The student left (he says) should not expose itself unnecessarily, e.g. in occupations, and get clobbered: it should work away unobtrusively, questioning the content of education; at the same time it should ignore the issue of academic freedom and leave that to the liberals. There are some serious contradictions here. Firstly, if the left is to keep quiteenough not to be noticed it will not actually be there at all. Secondly, the Hornsey affair was precisely an attack on educational content: this did not stop it being smashed as a political plot. Anyone who thinks that to 'rebel against their studies' will not bring out the Inquisition had better think again. Thirdly, the security of the staff and student left on the campus can only be guaranteed by these same weedy liberals and their 'academic freedom' Certainly the liberat concept academic freedom' in practice camouflages a shoddy elitism: academically free are -minority just large enough to produce trained personal who can service and maintain bourgeois society, and perpetuate the elite. But the crux here is that there are two quite diffe. rent things-liberal ideals, which aren't despicable which are not definable and the miserable inability of bourgeois society to fulfil these ideals. It is precisely by fighting for an ideal and being disillusioned by the reality, that the liberal suddenly wakes out of his sleep-walking. should constantly encourage ideal and point to the reality.
Now for sit-ins/occupations. The first objective is to generalisation— all sit-ins are not one sit-in, some are appropriate and some are silly. Our militant leaves out such positive points as (1) a sit-in gives people a brief but often vital experience of running their own lives; (2) it enables them to create and experience their own education, and (3) it is a challenge to the property fetish and the organisation of authority: there is a spiritual value in this challenge. The draw-backs to sit-ins which he notes may be curcial arguments in particular cases, but 'the golden rule is that there is no golden rule.' mags & papers ON THE BALL A little magazine, for subscribers only, started publication this year. It is called, justifyably-Politics and Money, each month it gives a politically informed economic analysis of a single problem; such as the Common Market, or the outlook for Britain.
Its first issue, now sod out gave general survey of the outlook for 1970 and in clear stringent language (though with ducted the recession in the US economy, showed that the Nixon administration could not avoid it because of its political priorites, and spelt out the possible effects. Cautious and realistic, Polities and Money explains in clear and simple COLLIS problems that the bourgeoisie covers over in the confusions of its own self-interests, while the Left all too often can only shout and posture. Neither facile It is worth looking at one of his examples both for its value in this argument and because it has been insufficiently considered by the left. "The longest occupation to date at Hornsey-achieved precisely noth ing, unless you count the melifluous mumbles of sympathy from the cultural establishment." But what happened at Hornsey was not a tactic. The vast majority of students were not committed, consciously and in ad. Vance. to taking certain step: simply a large number of people in a meeting entirely accepted by the authorities decided not to leave. From then on it just grew, and can't be compared with the highly conside. red occupations at the LSE. Then what is the nothing it achieved? Does one judge in terms of the liberation of individuals, the raising of consciousness, the achievement of concrete political goals, or what exactly? The very fact that it went on for 6 weeks made it a beacon which the other Art and Design cor leges found it impossible to ignore. There was fierce discussion throughout the sector. The staff and their union were radicalised along with the students, and the establishment hurried away to do a rethink. When that comes out (The Summerson/Coldstream Report) in the the argument will break out again. A whole process for making people aware has been initiated.
Politically there were, it is true, great losses. (Few people seem realise that at Hornsey and Guildford alone some 100 part-time and 15 full-time staff were sacked or otherwise disappeared in the last 2 years). And yet this is a sort of strength: the stubborn fight of the Guildford lowed. It is likely that Surrey Education Committee will eventually have to capitulate to pressure from a coaliTrade Councils.
forged-clumsy, perhaps, but potentially powerful.
It is important to remember here education are not at Universities at all, but in authoritarian teacher train'academic freedom' cannot be preserved because, under any meaning, it ways the best tactic, but let us have rather more clarity about objectives and variable local conditions before Reply to David Page Page's comments on article raise, yet again, the question of the place of liberalism in revoluliberals in educational institutions because of their educational and defenbecause they lead to a disillusionment that may form the beginnings of a revolutionary consciousness.
1 attacked the use of liberal issues as a means of raising consciousness precisely because history shows this to be the most dangerous tactic of little known but very valuable magazine, one that can only be subscribed to-and should be. 30/- a year, 20/- for students, from 14 South Hill Park Gardens, London NW3.
FROM VIETNAM TO INDO-CHINA The journal of the VSC formerly called Vietnam has promptly and rightly changed its name to IndoChina. Its first edition under its new name has an excellent piece on Laos translated from Le Monde, an extensive Vietnam bibliography, an analysis of the press response to the invasion of Cambodia, unmasking the lackeys, and plenty of short items a model of struggle and analysis. Now it is going from duplicated format into print, and needs financial help. Subs, 7/6 for six issues from 182 Pentonville Road, London all. Liberalism has been responsible for the failure of every revolutionary movement in western Europe since 1848. The continuing hegemony of capitalism and its institutions must recuperate anything short of ret ascribed their ability tionary demands. This hegemony rests squarely on the existence of liberalism as the perceived ideology of the bourgeoisie. As an ideology it is a form of false consciousness, resting not on theory but on a series of abstract value judgements about the nature of society. Its immense power lies in its ability to blind the mind to community of ideals. As a tool of the ruling class it has been successful in ground, by conditioning its members Page's liberalism must be seen in diversion from real issues. It is the false friend of inadequate and uncertain pseudo-revolutionaries. Page is wrong if he thinks the bourgeoisie mands. Over the last hundred years reforms in education, suppose that it will not go on doing so. Liberalism is a jelly that absorbs the force of anything short of total revolution. Revolutionaries can only liberal Delilah by maximising their Occupations must be accurately situated in this perspective. Page claims that occupations are useful in providing organisational experience for militants, as a challenge to educaaccuses me of an almost religious purism in denying the efficacy occupations. My analysis was tough precisely because it is the confusion lead to the failure of occupations. The drama of the occupation is a capitalism. It does not seek to smash and content of bourgeois learning; it revolutionary left needs to preserve a diamond hard edge to its theory to avoid being dragged blindly into confrontations based on false premises.
The response to the alienation of institutions seen in the fireNewcastle may be critised as pure terrorism that ignores the problems of mass organisation. But this response represents a deeply felt, subnihilism with its rejection of liberal measures is the force of the revolution. As Lefebvre capitalism. Page's gradulaism offers cannot unite it with an objective Page's own undoubted committment his methods in practice at Hornsey diverted the energy of the students into a maze of reformist goals. Most Womens Liberation and the New Politics SHEILA ROWBOTTOM From 127, Lower Marsh, SE1 /6 plus 6d p&p 1/3 off for a dozen or more.
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Publications, Gamble St., (West London se No. 4 now out de: Powelism: 10/- for Articles include Further Education; (Metal Box (acton Vac.E:u VOTer Mystery: Expo' Executive Write M Duncan, 15 Taylors Green, East Acton, W.3 Black Dwart Printed London ECI - Larcular Ltd, 32 Paul St Distribution Moore-Harness 11, Lever St coL, or anone 431.9070. Pardourst. London Wi Published The Black Dwarf, 36
A ANGUILLA-BRITAIN'S MOST EXPENSIVE INVASION Inflation is world-wide, the cost of everything is going up, including the price of invasions. An article on the invasion of Anguilla has just appeared in the Financial Times. Their special correspondent applies the very latest unit cost analysis. Balancing up the expensive logistics of getting troops and police to the Caribbean island and the money that Britain is now investing in the development of the island's roads and civic buildings he concludes that the "cost has probably been greater per capita (about 6000) and per square mile (35) than for any other British committment oversead." Of course this includes the expense of subsidizing the islands economy so that another invasion is not necessary in a few year's time. The islands only newspaper The Beacon has ambiguously declared *The fact is that Anguillans are grateful to our visitors for their cheerful and practical help and we feel they deserve a resounding pat on the back."
GAY LIBERATION humanity into 'scientifically' quantiti able and 'objective terms' A week after Kent State Cambodia, the psychiatrists come to discuss business as usual But business as usual didn't happen. The "shrinks" had hardly started their agenda when a Women's Liberation representative invaded the platform and grabbed the mike.
"I want to know what room the women can have to meet together in, and I want to know now, she said.
The Chairman appeared not to have heard. He called the next speaker. Another woman took the microphone:
"I don't believe you heard," she said. "We want to know what room we can have, and we want to know now."
The women got their room. They alpermission for Mario Santos to read a Women's Liberation statement to the conference. In it she said:
"Women come to you suffering from depression. Women ought to feel depressed withose roles arent puts on them..Those roles biological, they're learned....It started when my mother threw me a doll Red dresses or not, the homosexuals had real grievances to beef about. These were expressed with particular vehemence when one of the psychs started demonstrating his shock treatment machines. This involved showing slides of male nudes, during which the patient is given painful electric shock. Later he is shown a slide of a female, and receives no shock.
But the real target of the homosexuals anger was Dr. Bieber, an "expert" on homosexuality. Shouted one of the homosexuals: "You are uS queer; you-so politely-call u sick. But its the same thing. You make possible the beatings and rape in prisons, you are implicated in the torturous cures perpetrated on desperate homosexuals. I've read your book, Dr. Bieber, and if that book talked about Black people the way it talks about homosexuals, you'd be drawn and quartered and you'd deserve it.
"I never said homosexuals were sick", said Bieber. "I said they have displaced sexual adjustment."
Black Dwarf July 7 1970 Sally Fraser BRITAIN RELEASES POLITICAL PRISONER The 1968 October 27th Demo seems to stay with us. Arguments about whether it was a victory or a defeat for the Left continue. But there cannot be much doubt in the mind of Tony Soares who had just completed serving a two year gaol sentence for his part in th demo.
He was accused of distributing two leaflets (advertising demo) which the prosecution claimed might have indlunced people to riot (if the people had rioted, which they didn't). The parallels with the Peter Martin case are plain. Both men are black and both of them were sel tenced to long terms of imprisonment for handing out their opinions of roneed pieces of paper.
With the development of the armed struggle in Namibia (South West Africa) and the strengthening of the racist collaboration between the new British Govern-
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SS BOOKS: Thee rature in Line on. Caof
the pigs who make it possible for the cops to beat homosexuals: they call
LIBERATION MEETING