The sentences meted out to the Cambridge students for demonstrating against Greek fascism and to the two American students for protesting actively against racism, have brought home to many militants the problems which confront the revolutionary movement in relation to combating bourgeois repression.
The vicious sentences imposed by old Judge Truncheons nee Melford Stevenson and his crony in London should not be considered a mere accident. They are conscious efforts on the part of the bourgeois state to try and demoralise and defeat the student movement. It is no coincidence that the trials have lasted for a long time and that the sentences are imposed during the vacation when there can be no massive display of solidarity. Apart from the small but militant demonstration organised by the Spartacus League outside Maudling's house some weeks ago, there has been no active reaction from the revolutionary left. Apart from anything else the increasing repression does rather strongly point out the need for discipline and organisation because all actions in solidarity with the prisoners must be extremely well-planned and carefully executed so as to prevent the increase of political prisoners. The action of the Spartacus League is an excellent example of this and should be multiplied throughout the country.
But the student prisoners are not alone. There is also the question of Black and Irish prisoners to be considered. The Red response of the Left to the jailing of Bernadette Devlin, the best known spokesman of the Irish oppressed, has Defence! been somewhat pathetic and it is precisely this lack of response which gives the green light to the ruling class: if there is virtually no response to the jailing of Devlin, how much easier will it be to imprison other not-so-well-known Irish militants. And this is not merely an abstract question. The harassment suffered by Irish militants active in the irish Solidarity Movement in this country is on the increase. It is not necessary to repeat what is contained elsewhere in this issue on the oppression of the Black people. The interview on the centrespread and the report from the Red Circle in Leicester will provide comrades with some indication as to the situation which Black people in this country face regardless of which party happens to be in power.
It is not intended in this brief editorial note to deal in detail with the root causes of this repression, why it is happening now, etc. etc. There will be plenty of time to do that in the coming months. The immediate need is one of discussing how we are to combat this repression.
In the first place it is worth repeating again that the absence of a revolutionary youth organisation or even a structure like the German or American SDS despite their weaknesses, makes this task a hundred times more difficult. The newly formed Spartacus League is an extremely welcome step, but it is at the moment not able to fill the vacuum which exists in the youth milieu. We would ask those comrades who are seriously interested in revolutionary politics to think in terms of building the Spariacus League as a viable mass revolutionary youth organisation. The time for dilettantism or revolutionary voyeurism is long past. And a relapse into Mao-spontaneism is not exactly what the student movement needs at the moment. The need is for disciplined organisation and until this fact is realised by the more advanced sectors of the student movement it will not be possible to effectively combat this or any future repression.
A united front of militants inside and outside the labour movement is therefore extremely urgent. A Red Defence Committee is needed to coordinate solidarity activity with the political prisoners, but much more than this has to be done. One of the tasks of the Committee would be to get in touch with sympathetic lawyers, to arrange to defend militants, to keep in regular contact with those already in prison and to impress on comrades the need to be security-conscious. Loose talk and bravado is bad enough when a mass movement already exists, but in the absence of one it is sheer stupidity. None of this implies that we are in danger of fascism, Bonapartism, etc. All we are saying is that the suggestions we have made above are basic and elementary principles which should be clear to all socialists. And every political group and tendency should collaborate to set up Red Defence Committees regardless of the fact whether or not they are in agreement with the specific political beliefs of the prisoners in question. In particular, organisations like the Socialist Labour League and the Communist Party should understand the need for a broad-based committee of this sort not only because of the principle involved but also because some of their militants might also discover that they are not totally immune to oppression by the bourgeois state.
The Red Mole declares its complete and unconditional solidarity with all British political prisoners and assures them that regardless of whether or not it is possible to set up a Red Defence, in our own small way we will do all that we can to organise a meaningful solidarity.