The significance of the raids which took place in the North of Ireland on the night of July 22nd-23rd was totally disforted by a British press which has faithfully echoed British intelligence propaganda. Most of those who know anything about the realities of the situation were convinced that these raids were the start of interment; without such a motivation there was no basis for the size of the operation. If we are to judge from their claims they netted practically nothing from the entire opcration.
BRITISH ARMY CLAIMS The talk about a planned operation, with raids on "specially selected bouses", based on months of intelligence work, is laughable. Everyone knows who are the leaders of the Republican Movement ure: dogs in the street are barking about it. As Tomas Mac Giolla (President of the Official Sinn Fein) said, "They are not in hiding. They can be arrested at any time, in their bomes, or at their jobs,.. selling the Crited Irishman or holding public meetings and pickets."] That the arrests were not based on careful intelligence work is bome out by the fact that most of those arrested were Official Republicans; the Provisionals have been carrying out most of the armed action in recent months, but they do not operate in such an open political manner as the Official, their people are harder to identify than leaders of the Officials who regularly speak at meetings and are quoted in the press.
The Army stated that they had seized "documents and electronic and radio equipment. All of these were proving of great assistance in the fight against the IRA. "2 Reports on BBC radio spoke of documents which linked the TRA with organisations in the Republic of Ireland. All of this is pure waffle. There has been a radio operating from time to Time in the Lower Falls since August '69; it was used during the "Fleadh" in May this year. So the British Army has Finally captired it, hip hip hurrah. Under the Special Powers Act, "documents" can consist of tickets to a Republican social: Joseph Edwards was recently sentenced in a Belfist court for possessing letterheads of the Cathal Brugha (Provisional) Sun Fein Cuminn, a recruiting circular for Cumann nu mHan (the Republican women's organisation) and maps and photographs of Belfast. And there can be little difficulty about discovering that the IRA operates on an allfreland basis. The Ariny's clims are quite simply ludicrous. REPRESSION Taken in conjunction with the shooting of Seamus Cusack and Desmond Beattie, and the bundreds of prisoners incarcefated on the most insignificant of charges (another man has been imprisoned for crossing himself'), these incidents underline the day-by-day deepening of the repression in the North of Ireland. They reflect a gradual drift of the policy of the British government from one of trying to contain the situation by massive police action, to one of teying to smash all independent organisations of the nationalist minority, in un attempt to uppease the extreme Orange elements. A new note is being sounded by sections of the Conservative Party and by right-wing propagandists. These worms are stressing the need to maintuin the "constitutional" position of Northern Ireland, which means, of necessity. a close alliance by the government with the right wing of the Unionist Party and a pitiless suppression of the minority. An article in a recent issue of The Spectator? by one T. E. Utley, which waxed indignant about the betrayal of "Ulster" is typical of this kind of political excreta.
DEMORALISATION Another clement in the situation is the first hints of demoralisation in the British Army; bewildered at finding themselves in a shooting war in the "United Kingdom", at the attitude of the minority towards them, and the atrocious conditions under which they are billeted, cracks are beginning to show. There seems to be a trend towards isning ordinary squaddies with Sterling sub-machine guns, in place of their SLR rifles. Frightened men, booting wildly, are more likely to do unwanted damage with the long-range SIR than with the Sterling, which is more effective in close range fighting.
SPIRIT One incident has shown the spirit of the Northern Republicans, the trial of Mis. Maire Drumm. Mrs. Drumm was arrested under the Special Powers Act for "promoting the objeers of an unlawful association by encouraging people to s jom the IRA. *Throughour the hearing she refused either to face the bench, or to answer questions. She was sentenced to be bound over for two years, on a surety of ES00, and to report to a police station daily: the alternative was a sixmonth prison sentence. Her reply was to shout. "I will not accept bail. God save Ireland" 4, and she was dragged off, unbowed and unrepentant, to prison.
-Robert Mossgeil 1. IRISH TIMES, 24.2.71. 2 Ibid. 4. TRISH TIMES. 24.7.71 (ISC) becomes more necessary: ISC today is the only organisation which is mobilising both Irish and British militants in action against British imperialism in Britain.
During the last months ISC has built up an incredible record of activity. Not only has the campaign participated in, and initiated, demonstrations, pickets, etc., it has recognised the very real need for education and propaganda to explain the political situation in Ireland. This is evidenced by the highly successful series of Forums organised in London; ISC is the only organisation which has offered a platform to both Provisional and Official Republicans to explain the policies of their movements. There have been two issues of its newspaper, Irish Citizen, the first print of the second issue sold out a few days after it came off the press. Both issues have contained striking and dramatic posters.
With the involvement of Scottish troops in the Six Counties, the work of Glasgow ISC has a special significance, and despite the ever present threat from local Orange extremists the branch has never let up in its activities. Its meetings at the Barrows" (Glasgow's equivalent of Petticoat Lane) have regularly attracted crowds of up to 200, and have become a feature of political life in the city. When the British Army launched a recruiting drive to get more unemployed young Scotsmen for use against the Irish people, ISC countered with a leafleting campaign.
In October ISC plans demonstrations in both London and Glasgow. The Glasgow one will take place on October 16th, and the London one on the 24th. Speaking tours are being organised to publicise them, and working up to the demos. there will be a series of smaller demos. and pickets.
If you are interested in ISC and want more information, please fill in the form below and post to: ISC, 22 Duncan Terrace, London N.1.
Name:
Address
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labour Imperialism When the 1945-51 Labour Governments took office, they were faced by a rising challenge from the colonial bourgeoisie and growing competition from American imperialism which was then masquerading as an anti-colonial victory by abruptly ending lend-lease, thus compelling Britain to apply for a massive dollar loan. Tha loan was oranted on condition that sterling become freely convertible and that U.S. goods be allowed free access to the British market. This agreement closely defined the parameters of British economic independence for it resulted in the famous dollar gap which was to continually threaten sterling. In fact the pound was devalued within two years of Leone convertomy Now, the traditional source of foreign currency to balance British deficits had been colonial primary produce. India, for example, in the pre-First World War period, earned large surpluses on Continental and American trade, mainly through jute and cotton exports, This enabled the U.K. to run a deficit with Europe and the USA, thus permitting the British to enjoy a higher standard of living, at India's expense. This is the classic modus operandi of Imperialist exploitation-of developing underdevelopment-in a process by which the economies of the satellites are distorted to meet the needs of the metropolis. Faced with the pressing need to bridge the dollar gap, the Labour Goverment accepted the above implications quite candidly. In reply to left-wing criticism, Bevin outlined the elementary rationale of Labour imperialism as follows: ". if the British Empire fell it would the standard of life of our constituents would fall considerably. " But it was Strachey who outlined entry, When finally British troops were with clearly what was required of the colonies. Rejecting colonial claims for industrial develop ment, he bluntly announced that this was an "indulgence"" which Britain's internal position would not allow and that by hook or by crook the development of primary production of all sorts in the colonial territories must proceed...
Strachey meant what he said. By 1950 the colonial surplus was raised to 8376 million compared with S150m. p.a. during 1945-49. In 1951 this surplus had reached $314 million within the first six months.
MALAYA AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM Malaya had now replaced India as the most important economic component of the Empire system, earning more dollars in 1951 than the whole of British exports. The strategic need to control Malayan rubber and tin sources dominated Labour's attitude to the Far East. Stability from profits than did the Iranians, The comand security a swift return to the old colonial pattern disrupted by Japanese occupationbecame the order of the day. Within two months after Labour took office, British troops were landed in Java to suppress, with the help of Japanese prisoners of war, no less, the Republic declared by Indonesian nationalists. Rejecting U.N. intervention, Bevin handed the territory back to the reliable Dutch. Saigon too was occupied by British forces and handed over to the French early in 1946. In Malaya itself the old order had to be reconstructed. Large areas, especially tin and rubber producing zones, were in the hands of the Malay People's anti-Japanese Army. Comprised mainly of Chinese Communists (for most Malays had collaborated with the Japanesal, it was therefors incompatible fied. It was made clear to the Iranians that with British imperialism and was subsequently disarmed by a mixture of threats and bribery. An alliance was then formed between the most reactionary elements in Malaya-the Muslim Sultans and British imperialism-which greatly restricted political representation for the Chinese and Indian populations. This was followed by mounting attacks on the trade unions culminating in the anti-strike laws of 1948. The Communists then embarked on a guerrilla libera. tion struggle to which the British responded by using the now familiar techniques of pacification their unpopularity with the Arab masses could -fire free zones, forcible evictions of peasent populations, etc. The Labour Government was now committed to a virulent anti-Communist posture which culminated in Bevin's call for the reunification of Korea under the tyrant Syngman coup d'etat. As a result of this coup the British Rhee. In Vietnam, Java, Malaya and Korga the Labour Government demonstrated its readiness to forcibly prevent Communist partisans from imperialism.
U.S. IMPERIALISM AND BRITISH REPRESSION power. The Americans had responded to Labour's Whilst American imperialism was in complete accord with British repression against colonial movements suspected of Communist orientation, elsewhere it sought to undermine British spheres of influence. The Middle East was a typical arena for Anglo-American imperialist competition. The Labour Government, dominated by two major concerns the need for control over Arab oil and the Suez Canal-maintained tradi tional British policy there. Troops remained in Syria, Lebenon and Iraq despite appeals to the U.N., Jordan, with the Arab Legion commanded by a British officer, remained a client state, and the Egyptians were told by Morrison that Britain could not withdraw troops from the Canal zone. When the Egyptians eventually abrogated the 1936 Treaty, Bevin informed them in best gunboat style, We are here, we have a right to be here, and we shall stand absolutely firm in exercising these undoubted rights. " American imperialism exerted pressure on the British in two seemingly contradictory ways. On the one hand, domestic policies, heavily influenced by the 5-million strong Jewish vote, demanded that Palestine be opened to European Jews, thereby alienating Arab opinion. However, this was in opposition to American oil interests which sought to ingratiate itself with the Arabs. In fact, despite this contra diction, both American aims were successful, mainly due to British complicity. Whilst 50,000 British troops occupied Palestine, hundreds of thousands of displaced Jews were permitted drawn in 1948 the Zionists were in sufficient strength to defeat the Arabs, who were made to pay for the European mistreatment of the Jews. The Palestine struggle had placed the Labour Government in another of the "agonising dilemmas" from which they sought to escape by finding a "balanced" solution. One should note; it was a matter of life and death for the country." however, that the effective result of thesa solutions is to leave the colons in power. As in Israel in 1948, so also in Rhodesia and Ulster in the "60s.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL The Americans, thanks to uneasy British help. had achieved the first of their Middle East objectives-the setting up of the state of Israel. The second objective-the penetration into Arab oil sources-was also achieved with British help, albeit unintentional. The British owned 56% of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, from which the UK. Government received more taxes pany represented a grotesque example of uneven development-a vast modern oil complex in a feudal country with 90% illiteracy and an Infant mortality rate of 50% of all live births. As for the oil, although annual exports were valued at $360 million, Iran itself received less than 10% of this in royalties, had no control on the amount of oil leaving the country or on the price; the Admiralty for example received oil at cut-price rates. The Iranians, faced with the refusal of the Anglo-Iranian Co. to consider a more equitable arrangement, announced their intention of nationalising the company. The Labour Government, far from applauding the attempt of a poor country to capture the "commanding heights" of industry, was horrinationalisation would not be tolerated, but nevertheless the Company was nationalised in 1951. The Labour Administration responded by blocking Iran's sterling balances, suspending exports of vital items such as sugar and steel rails and moving the parachute brigade out to Cyprus. These measures were maintained when the Torles took office and reinforced by pressure from the Americans and the World Bank. However the Americans were playing their own game. They had devised a technique whereby be circumnavigated by the simple technique of CIA coups. Having indoced a financial crisis, with the help of the British, they proceeded independently to plan and direct a successtul lost their oil monopoly and Iranian oil was turned over to a consortium of Western oil companies-the U.S. cut being 40% The British defending their own shabby imperial interests, they had been sat up as front men by their more powerful rivals.
THE "BLOODLESS REVOLUTION" Labour politicians are fond of referring to the period 1945-51 as the "bloodless revolution". From the Third World's point of view it was part of a bloody counter-revolution which has not yet been defeated. In most of the colonies under Labour's control the same imperial structure was maintained -there was no revolutionary displacement of the ruling colons. In British Gulana, which was perhaps the most politically advanced colony in the Empire, Cheddi Jagan's multi-racial socialist party was continually denounced both by the TUC and the Labour Party for having communist sympathies. The same reactionary civil sarvants and Governors who worked hand-in-glove with the British sugar planters remained in office, Police officers were praised and decorated for shooting strikers, and friends of the Governor were nominated to the legislature despite being defeated at the polls. There was no attempt to solve the basic contradiction of the colonybetween British planters and the landless peasants. The latter were being transformed into a wretched rural proletariat by the planters who bought up the best land and then let it lie idle By this process they were able to force the land less peasants to work on their plantations. Under such conditions the growth of Jagan's party was hardly surprising, and in the early "50s he won an electoral victory. With the support of the Natio nal Executive of the Labour Party, who said Jagan's policies warranted military intervention, the Tories dispatched a gunboat and dismissed Jagan. In taking this action they merely con tinued the theme of hostility towards the socialist forces in the colony, a theme which the Labour Government had initiated in defence of its own imperialism and oil interests in Venezuela. The U.S., alarmed by the spectre of Marxism in its on back gerden, had worked in harmony with British governments towards undermining Jagan. The CIA, using black agents, fermented a strike by elements of the black population against Jagan in 1953 and with the help of Westminster exaggerated the racial antagonisms which have paralysed the political development of Guiana to this day.
AFRICA In black Africa, too, the Labour Government left intact the apparatus of repression. It was under a Labour Government that Kenya approached the holocaust of the Mau Mau rebellion. Sir P. Mitchell, the Governor, in his retirement speech in 1961, described the colony as "cheerful and loyal", During the next four years, some 11,000 of these "cheerful loyal" citizens, mainly Kikuyu rural proletariat, were killed in a one-sided guerrilla struggle less than 100 whites lost their lives, Though left-wing Labourites denounced the Tories over atrocities such as the Hola Camp, it is wall to remember that these same men had presided over the essential contradiction of Kenya-the domination Ulster Unionist regime, continued the ignoble aver 5 million Africans by 26,000 Europeans. In 1950 Kenyatta had asked for a modest African members on the legislative council which was dominated by 27 Europeans. Griffith, the Labour Colonial Secretary, under pressure from the white settlers who were threatening to take matters into their own hands, offered Kenyatta one extra African, to be nominated by the Governor, and rejected the principle of popular election, This refusal to allow Africans meaningful representation in the government compounded the agrarian grievances and sporadic disturbances broke out throughout the last two years of Labour's rule Further south, Patrick Gordon Walker had taken the preliminary moves to establish the Central African Federation, despite the unanimous opposition of all African opinion. The effect of such a federation was to place the copper belt of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambial and the reservoir of labour in Nyasaland (now Malawi) under the political controi of the white settlers of Southern Rhodesia. The Labout Party found itself. in opposition when the Federation was actually implemented and found it convenient to appear radical again by voting against the enacting legislation, When in power. however, Labour showed a remarkable sensi tivity to white settler prejudices. The treatment of the African leaders in Bechuanaland provides sordid evidence of capitulation to racialism. When Tshakedi Khama struggled to oppose South African control over South West Africa (a former German colonyl, the Labour Government refused to allow him to go to the U.N. They were anxious to placate South Africa from whom they borrowed E80 million in gold. Later when South African opinion was enraged over the marriage of Seretse Khama to a white woman, the Labour Government offered him £1,000 p.a. to renounce his chieftainship and leave Africa.
During the period 1945-51 the Labour administration practised imperialism on a global scale. No doubt it came as a painful surprise to many Labour M.P.s to find their Government cynically manipulating the U.N., appeasing white racists, and opposing socialist movements throughout the underdeveloped world. But this was the response dictated by the objective needs of British capitalism as it struggled to recover from the war. Though Labour M.P.s often seek consolation in the speed with which the Indian sub-continent was granted independence, the Government was in fact bowing to the inevitable-it could not have reacted in any other way. But elsewhere it took full advantage of all the unequal relationshios which British power was able to maintain.
The lessons for Marxists are quite clear. There can be no Socialist foreign policy without a revolutionary overthrow of the existing relations of production. Imperial foreign policy is but an external reflection of the internal contradiction of capitalist society. Those who practice it illuminate their role as defenders of capitalism at home and overseas. The last Labour Government by its abject support of American Imperialism in Vietnam, by its capitulation to the Smith regime, by its military defence of the example of its predecessors.
-P. Kneafsev
*When I am freed from here I shall go back to my own people. I can hear their heartrending cries even from here. One who is born in water is not afraid of ocean. I do not believe you can go to heaven [obvious allusion to BanglaDesh's independence] by holding someone else's hand"-this is the last cryptic message to one of his followers from 92year-old Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, East Bengal's militant political leader, who is now held in India under what was reported to be "protective custody".
In Calcutta's Bangla Desh mission, a stronghold of the Awami League expatriates, enquiries about the Moulana's whereabouts are received with cold silence. To members of the Awami League High Command, who have converged on Caleutta since Yahya's army operations began in March and are now facing mounting criticism from the fighting units inside BanglaDesh for their inactive and incapable role in the present armed struggle, the name "Bhashani" is an anathema. It appeared to them that the Moulana constituted the real threat to their already discredited leadership.
Even to the Indian reactionary clique Bhashani is a potential danger. In the past Moulana Bhashani consistently took an anti-imperialist stand on all international issues, India's fear of this aged leader is also based on a more concrete fact, that Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani is the only political leader in the whole of the sub-continent who can genuinely claim large followings in both West Bengal and BanglaDesh.
EARLY BACKGROUND In the 1920s, for leading a peasant revolt in the Tangail area in his home province, Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan, not yet known as Bhashani, was expelled by the British from Bengal and went to Assam, a state now in India. In Assam, during the next 25 years till 1948, Moulana stayed and worked among the oppressed peasants. Time and time again Moulana Abdul Hamid led the peasants of Assam to resist the atrocities of the Assamese police, who used to be sent out by the Assam Government to evict the peasants. Gradually, the militant Moulana formed his peasant base areas surrounding Dhubri, Golakganj, Shilear and Bhashanirchar, the lastnamed place after which the peasants used to call their leader "the Moulana of Bhashani and the rame stuck. The Moulana's prestige among these peasants is still undiminished 23 years after the partition of India. And this is exactly what the Indira Goverment is wary about.
By the middle of last April when the Pakistani troops started fanning out into Bengal's countryside to continue their oppressive military operations, the Moulana, leaving his home in Tangail which subsequently was attacked, went across the border to Dhubri, his former base area in Assam, to organise a peasant army and launch resistance against Yahya's troops from the north. This plan was foiled initially by the Indian authorities.
Firstly, India does not want that arms should reach the peasants and workers in the fighting area; as a result the emergence of a peasant army on the Indian side with the Moulana as its leader has lo be strongly resisted.
Secondly, India is committed to helping the Awami League elements only, as they compose the most allied class allies of the Indian compradorbourgeois ruling clique. The true nature of Indian government motives was further revealed when the Border Security Forces of India seized Moulana Bhashani on his arrival at Dhubri. The old leader was physically disallowed to come in contact with his followers. Since then as each day passed the dariness of the cloak surrounding the Moulana increased. It was reported that Messrs. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Moinul Hug, the two Muslim members of the Indira Cabinet from Assam, were Moulana's wounded feelings. Both the ministers. whose families reportedly owe certain attachments to the Moulana, cooed and cried over the old man's shoulder, shedding crocodile tears in sympathy, but their antics did not ensure his freedom. Subsequently. Moulana Bhashani was brought to West Bengal. He was last known to be staying in the custody of BSF in a house at Hedayetpur near Krishnagar, 60 miles north of Calcutta.
Moulana Bhashani has always been in the forefront of the democratic struggles in Pakistan. In the early fifties he led the Awami League to oppose the rule of the feudal landlord class and the bureaucrat-bourgeoisie of Pakistan, represented by the Muslim League, the party which came to power in Pakistan when imperial India was divided into two semi-colonial states in 1947. In 1954, very largely due to his campaigning for joint action against the common enemy, a united front was able to rout the Muslim League in elections in Bengal. But very soon the Moulana realised that that path being trodden by the Awami League, the main component of the united front of 1954, was that of rightwing opportunism, inasmuch as that the League opposed any radical change in Bengali politics and acted in a manner upholding the rule of the privileged class. The final break with the Awami League came in 1957-58, when the Awami League Prime Minister at the Centre, Mr. Suhrawardy, joined the U.S.-sponsored Military Pacts a nove bitterly opposed by Moulana Bhashani.
1968 UPSURGE In 1968-69, during the mass upheaval in Pakistan, Moulana Bhashani was again in the forefroot of the peasants workers students resistance. He personally led the "Gherao" (encircling) of the Governor's palace in Dacca in March 1969, engaging a large police force in pitched battles, despite his great old age. To many, this was Moulana's finest hour in his long and stormy political career. The wind of change was also blowing over West Pakistan. The following month, Field Marshal Ayuh Khan's regime after a decade of autocratic rule collapsed under the pressure of people's revolt.
Within East Bengal, the Moulana built up a powerful Krishak Samity Peasants' Association with a membership totalling 100,000 militant cadres spread througbout the province. Hast Bengal's Communist Party extended its fullest support to Moulana Bhashani to bring the peasants together. Undoubtedly, Krishak Samity helped spread the spirit of militancy in the countryside, as the red-capped volunteers of the Samity shouting Lal Salam (Red Salute) to their leader were seen as a very threat to the existing power structure. At a time when the Awami League was trying to furn Bengali national aspirations into a petty bourgeois chauvinism, Moulana Bhashani stood firmly for the liberation of the masses from the exploitation of hig landlords and capitalists.
Moulana Bhashani has strong dislike for those middle-ciass politicians who, cut off from the mainstream of struggle waged by the peasants and workers, speak of parliamentary politics as tbe only means to realising democratic rights. In an underdeveloped country like Pakistan, institutions such as parliament, through policies of reform and adjustments, legalise the stranglehold of feudalbourgeois rule over the population. By denying the existence of class antagonism and opposing class struggle as the means to resolve contradictions in a society, the bourgeois parliament advocates coexistence of classes with the proletariat remuining The Moulana, having already had his bad experience of parliamentary politics in the united front of 1954, decided against participation in the last elections of 1970, He declared at a large peasant rally at Mahipur last year, "the holding of elections under the present system is a ruse adopted by the exploiters to keep themselves in power." It was reckoned that more than 42% of the total electorates in East Bengal did not cast their votes in the last elections held under the Legal Framework Order, a set of rules laid down by the military junta which gave wide power to Yahya Khan to disband the National Assembly or to refuse assent to a constitution agreed by the elected representatives if he chose to do so.
Moulana Bhashani was among the first to realise that only complete independence could start to solv solve the economic il's of East Bengal. This demand for independence was not to cater for the chauvinists or bourgeois opportunists, but it was seen as a necessary first step in the struggle for a socialist Bengal. Moulana Bhashani is certainly not a communist. But his political vision for his country is built upon the hope of'a future free from all exploitation of man by man. He believes the East Bengali peasants and workers can never be free while their country is in subjection to the West. And the West Pakistani proletarial and peasantry could never achieve socialism within a country which is keeping another country in subjection.
Today, the followers of Moulana Bhashani joining the United National Liberation struggle are fighting the invading army of Yahya Khan in East Bengal, while their leader is held by the Indian authorities.
The last two months of incarceration has affected Moulana Bhashani's health. He was learnt to be suffering from serious eye trouble and asthmatic condition.
The immediate release of this great popular leader is believed to be absolutely essential by all who want to see the struggle in East Bengal for its liberation succeed. -Khaled Yousuf, writing from Caicutta WEST PAKISTANI SECURITY MEN IN LONDON According to reports received from some very reliable sources in West Pakistan, 25 special military intelligence men have been sent to London to make a detailed survey of the antiYahya movement with special concentration on West Pakistanis opposed to the massacres in Bengal. After making a survey the G-men will report back and suggest further measures. According to our information they have already singled out some leading members of the West Pakistanis in Solidarity with Bengal Committee. We also hear that the Pakistani security services have been in recent consultations with the Persian Gestapo SAVAK, with a view to studying their methods of harassment of Persian revolutionaries in Europe and North America. It is obvious that Scotland Yard is aware of the presence of these agents in Britain. What at the moment is not determined is whether it is collaborating with them or not. The hysterical campaign being waged in the Urdu press in Britain against M. K. Janua and Tariq Ali because of their support for a free Bengal is another ominous sign of what could lie ahead.
PEASANTS BATTLE AGAINST POLICE IN W. PAKISTAN The situation in West Pakistan is without doubt beginning to change. The working class in all the major cities is extremely restive because of the economic crisis and erup tions can be expected any day. Meanwhile in Charsadda near Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province there has recently been a two-day cunning battle between 500 peasants protesting against eviction and the Frontier Constabulary, While we are still awaiting detailed reports, what is clear is that many peasants have been killed and hundreds arrested.
BHUTTO'S CHANGING ROLE Mr. Bhutto's "phoney" campaign against the present regime will not cut much ice with militants, particularly considering his role in the repression of Beogal. What has caused shis change? The answer is simple: Mr. Bhurto now appears as the most sophiscicated spokesman of U.S. imperialism in West Pakiscan. The Stare Deparcment and the World Bank favour a political settlemest with the remnants of the Awarni League and with Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. Bhucto now acts as their spokesman against sections in the Army, chough is is clear that even the top Army leadership is divided on immediate tactics.
DACCA ATTACKED The heart of Dacca, which today is the best protected city in East Bengal and is a garrison town, is today no longer Immune to attack. Twice over the last two months the NF guerrillas have destroyed the electricity power stations and engulfed the city in darkaess. Even today the supplies of electricity are very limited, but more important, the populatim is aware that the ourrillac are antive ana fiohting
The London demonstration on July 25th against the Immigration Bill, organised by a united front committee, and initiated by the Black Unity and Freedom Party, indicates the kind of united action which is required if a serious opposition to racism is to be built. Unfortunately it also indicated the emergence of disruptive tactics on the part of one organisation which will cripple the movement if they are permitted to go any further.
Edward Davoren of the Irish National Liberation Solidarity Front, speaking at the rally which preceded the demonstration, launched a slanderous attack on the International Marxist Group and the Spartacus League, Declaring the need to expose "agents of the ruling class"
present at the demo, he denounced the IMG/SL disagreement with the Maoist line that we are faced with "growing fascism"
as "covering up for the ruling class"; falsely attributing to the IMG/SL the SL.L's position of calling for another Labour Government, he declared that they were deliberately trying to create illusions in the Labour Party in order to assist capitalism, and he accused them of using the slogan of Workers' Control to oppose the concept of the workers *aking state power.
REFUSAL TO BE PROVOKED This was a clear attempt to split the demo, hut the IMG/SL who constituted the largest contingent present, refused to be provoked and marched off from Ladbroke Grove. During the course of the demo, IMG/SL representatives discussed with the stewards and requested that they be allowed to SUDAN: AN AFRICAN INDONESIA As we go to press news comes of the executions and hangings of Communist leaders in the Sudan. The Sudanese C.P. Isader, Abdul Majoub, has been hanged, and a witch-hunt of Indonesian proportions has been unleashed against the Sudanese communists. The Sudanese C.P.-a staunchly pro-Moscow formation-split several months ago on the question of collaboration with the regime. Majoub was opposed to further collaboration and was imprisoned by Numeiry. At that time the only organisation to call for the release of the Sudanese communists was the United Secretariat of the Fourth International. Both Moscow and Peking remained silent. Today they see for themselves where the policies of class-collaboration lead. The Sudanese C.P. was one of the more influential of the Arab C.P.s, but its collusion with the Numeiry regime and its refusal to mobilise the masses independently played into the hands of reaction.
As Majoub is hanged and other communists are butchered, the bureaucrats in the Kramlin can only fulminate against the terror. When it comes to killing communists, the Kremlin refuses to act, particularly where the regime committing the massacres is the "friend of a friend" (Sadat and Ghadafil. In the next issue of The Red Mole, we will carry an extensive report on the Sudan. Meanwhile the revolutionary militants must do all in their power to show their feelings against the butchers in the Sudan.
A HUNDRED THOUSAND WELCOMES?
A word of advice for journalists: be very careful about attending preas conferences addressed by Mr. Le Ngoc Chan, the "Souch Vietnamese" ambassador to Britain.
A recent press conference held by this digni tary in the Intercontinental Hotel, Dublin, ended amidst amazing scenes. The conference was for invited journalists, but a number of others turned up uninvited and were admitted. Amongst these was Michael O Riordan, secretary of the Communist Party of Ireland, representing the Irish Socialist. Mick had been circulating and chatting for abour ten minutes before the Special Branch realised the enormity of their error. They politely asked him to leave, and being a loyal disciple of peace and progress, he politely left, Ourside tbe door, however, he was set upon by a bunch of chugs drawn from the make a reply, and that the committee dissociate from dismay at the incident, saying that such events created black leaders who understood the necessity for this.
PRIVATE PROPERTY in a united front with all of the organisations present.
A little-noticed, but interesting arrival on the scene of white-collar unions is the proposed "Association of Professional Scientists". announced a few weeks back by a Mr. Lesbe Williams. At first sight, one might be excused for wondering why a new union has to be formed when ASTMS and DATA are already negotiating on beball of a substantial number of scientists and technologists. Mr. Williams asserts that his association will provide a means for "protecting the professional ethics of the scientist"-something ASTMS and DATA are presumed not to be too good at.
Mr. Wilbams himself has a head start in the field of ethics for a considerable period he was deputy chairman of ICI. This in itself might be considered odd by chose who have been more used to seeing trade union leaders sell our to become company directors than vice versabut fear not, Mr. Williams is no class traitor. His union is determined to see that no such ungentlemanly tactica as strikes are indulged in by its membership discreet pressure in the right quarters is the favoured tactic. Of course, this may mean that a scientist in Mr. Williams" Union is likely to remain, in the words of a Liverpool Universicy sociologist, "mystified that his superior status is not recognised in terms of moncy". The ruling class is not unprepared to grant favours for such docility. however; in fact a special clause has been inserted into the Industrial Relations Bill which states char, in recognition disputes, "professional or other qualifications" must be taken into account. Which, in this case, means that che bosses' Union gets recogoicion and negotiating rights in return for services rendered.
ranks of the Special Branch, the Garda Siochana (trish fuzz), and the botel security guards, and violently ejected from the premises. A picture in the Dublin magazine This Week shows him being manhandled out of the front door with jacket and shirt torn open. He was taken to Irishtown Garda station and charged with assault and disorderly behaviour.
The other journalisrs present, led by Frionsas MacAonghusa, the well known left-wing Irish writer, demanded Mick's release, the "ambassador" disclaimed all responsibility for the affair and the Gardai were reluctant to part with O'Riordan, so all the journalises present walked our. Remember, citizen journalists, next time Mr. Chan invites you to a press conference, be sure to scoff the maximum amount of booze as quickly as possible, you may not have loog.
STALINISM Davoren's spooch. A meeting of the stewards in Shepherds Bush Green at the end of the demo granted three minutes for a reply. George Joseph, speaking for the BUFP, expressed doubts in the minds of many black people about working with white organisations, and made difficulties for those When Bob Purdie mounted the step ladder, which served as a platform, to reply, three or four of Davoren's supporters leapt forward and started rocking the steps to and fro in an an agent of Hitler. attempt to dislodge him, while someone else pulled the leads out of the loudspeaker equipment. A force of SL members intervened to protect ede, Purdie and dissuaded the Davorenites. BUFP stewards cleared the aren, and reconnected the equipment. Meunwhile it turned out that the step ladder belonged to the Davorenites, and they claimed their private property rights. Cde. Purdie continued with his speech on the ground, the leads were again pulled out, he resumed with a battery loudhailer. He pointed out that the IMG/SL had a different analysis of Fascism from other organisations present; they regarded this as a serious question of Marxist theory which had to be discussed, but this did not mean that they did not see the importance of fighting the growing reaction in Britain. He expressed the conviction that there wus no reason why the IMG/SL could not continue to work IMPORTANT WORKING CLASS VICTORY IN SPAIN In mid-May the elections took place for the workers" delegates to sit on the fascist corpora tist ""Unions" which include both workers and employers" representatives. These unions are tightly controlled by the Franco regime.
Attempts made during the last tan years to agitate inside these Unions have met with heavy repression. Of course, oppositional groups were able to "exploit" the "legal possibilities" and even to meet up through the fascist union the discreet but constant watch of the fascist police, who after allowing the movement to be canalised into legal channels would arrest the oppositional worker militants at the most opportune moment and thus periodically break up a laboriously constructed network of workers remarkable. They were able to organise a organisations. Making a balance sheet of this relationship of forces between the vanguard groups and the reformist tendencies in the this year for a baycott of the Francoist Union elections. The Spanish C.P. and the official Francist propaganda have both tried to ensure the greatesg possible participation in the clec tions (the C.P. to have oppositional delegates elected, the Francoists to support the official candidates).
The results received to date show a remarkable victory for the boycott which has become a defeat for Francoism and reflects the growing politicisation of the Spanish working class, which was already apparent at the time of the strikes in defence of the Basque political prisoners condernned at Burgos at the beginning of this year.
In the Basque country the Francoist press itself has been forced to acknowledge a "50% abstention". Reality is a bit different, however: in the main Basque industrial centre, Bifbao, the average abstention rate exceded 70%, reaching in the most important factories: 80% at Nava/ (naval yards): 80% at Altos Hornos {iron manufacturel; over 80% at Firestone and General Electric more than 95% at Edessa, etc.
In Madrid in the two main factories Pogaso (carsl, Standard Electric (electrical apparatus)over half the workers boycotted the elections, despite the fact that these are both Communist Party strongholds and that Government pressure was exceptionally strong.
In Catslonia and especially in Barcelona and its industrial suburbs, the abstention rate exreeded 66% and sometimes reached 70% and over: Harry Walker (70%); SEAT (FIAT) Factory No. 5: 100%; Telefonica 100%; inde 90%; Faema 80%; etc. This incident is socious; it represents one of the first occasions in London when one left-wing organisation has tried to prevent free speech on a demonstration, and has tried to physically prevent another tendency from speaking. The IMG/SL will not permit such tactics to be extended, and will prevent the physical intimidation of their members. and any other militants who are prevented from speaking All other genuine revolutionaries should support this stand.
But the question is more than one simply of workers' democracy. It is at root political. Mr. Davoren has been conducting a disgusting campaign against the "Trotskyites" in the columns of his newspaper for some months now, not shrinking from the most baseless calumnies, including extracts from a book called The Great Conspiracy aguirst Russia which purports to show that Trotsky was acting as If in your press you constantly reiterate that "Trotskyites" aro agents of the ruling class, it is only natural that sooner or later you will apply your theory to practice. Davoren's methods stem from his politics, from his acceptance of Stalinism. Those who have embruced Maoism are today in deep crisis, under the hammer blows of China's policy in regard to Banglu Desh, Ceylon and U.S. Imperialism. Davoren himself has suffered u recent crippling split. The Stalinism of these Macist groups is now being drawn out to its logical conclusion, their backs are to the wall and they are lashing out blindly. All genuine militants (including many Maoists) should take note of this and refuse to permit them to disrupt and split the unity that is needed at this time in order to combat the Immigration and Anti-T.U. Bills.
-Red Mole Reporters In many towns "boycott committees" have been formed in the factories, forming a united front of representatives of host of the extreme left groups. The comrades in the Liga Comunista Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Communist League, ex-Comunismo Group), an organisation sympathetic to the Fourth International, participated in these committees.
They also put out an appeal to these same groups to orgame sucer demonstrations ouring election week to call for a boycott and to encourage the workers by showing them that offices. But they were only able to do this under the fascists were no longer the masters of the streets.
Although several groups responded favourably, it was practically only the LCR comrades who went out onto the streets on the 18th May. Their success was all the more demonstration of 500 people in Madrid, 400 experience and profiting from the visibly changac in Barcelona, 200 in Valencia and 100 in Bilbao enthusiastic demonstrations behind red flags defended by self-defence groups who prevented working class, most of the vanguard groups called any demonstrators being arrested. This is the first time since the victory of Francoism that the Trotskyists have succeeded in organising a demonstration on a national scale in Spain. To get over 1,000 people on the streets under clandestine conditions represents a remarkable achievement for our comrades of the LCR.
The Red Mole August 1971. Pace 11
Red Mole NIXON -MAO SUMMIT MAKES DEFENCE OF THE INDO - CHINESE