The 4th National Women's Liberation Conferbeen contributions which dress up feminist arguments with eclectic elements of "Marxist" analysis; most notably the paper produced by Ros Delmar and supported by Juliet Mitchell. This defines two areas of social activity, the "world of production' dominated by the men - and the 'world of reproduction' - the sphere of women. Despite some correct remarks made later about the economic and social functions of the family in capitalist society, this division is maintained: the theoretical task for the women in the movement (tasks other than theoretical are not proposed) is to develop an analysis of ... the mode of reproduction' (!)
RESOLUTIONS There was virtually no political discussion in the plenary sessions, which were restricted largely to reports - though hopefully it will be possible to discuss all these differences at a conference for all women socialists in the movement called by the Birmingham group for February. Nonetheless some of the resolutions passed at the end reflected advances in the movement. A report from the Irish Women's Liberation movement ended with a resolution calling for British troops out, without which no-one in the House of Orange: since Faulkner was the last credible Prime Minister, the fall of Faulkner would bring about the fall of Stormont. Stormont was necessary as a cement to bind the block of four classes together. British imperialism's overall plan for Northern Ireland calls for the reform of the Orange monolith. the reform of the Northern Ireland state, but it aims to maintain in its essence this reactionary, pro-imperialist power structure to use it as a lever and a prop to further British interests in Ireland.
CONFRONTATION For these reasons, on 9 August, 1971, the policy of Containment and Reform was dropped, and replaced with a policy of confrontation with almost the total Catholic community. Torture, concentration camps, murder, military brutality and repression, and Black Propaganda were used to crush the resistance in the Catholic community.
This policy was continued, despite some misgivings on the part of more experienced British counter-insurgency experts, until, in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday in Derry, it provoked the very danger that Britain most fears in Ireland - a risk to its investment and interests in the south. also saw the beginning, typified by the 31,000 strong Anti-internment League demonstration in London, of the rise of in Britain of a mass movement in solidarity with the Irish struggle. This has the potential of reaching the same dimensions as the American anti-war movement, which, to paraphrase Spiro Agnew, "threatened to rend the fabric of American society".
INDOCHINA SOLIDARITY
2nd and 3rd December Speakers include: Noam Chomsky, representatives of PRG, DRV, and Cambodian and Laotian organisations, Malcolm Caldwell, Robin Blackburn, John Gittings, Steven and Hilary Rose, etc.
For further details and registration: write to Indochina, 182 Pentonville Road, London N.1. Registration fee: £1.
SUBSCRIBE!
Money Orders to Red Mole, 182 Pentonville Ireland could achieve liberation, and this was overwhelmingly passed. Conference voted to sponsor the forthcoming Indochina Solidarity Conference, and howled down a motion calling on President Nixon to do *everything in his power to end the Vietnam war', affirming that the liberation of Vietnam would be brought about entirely through the struggles of the Vietnamese people. The black Australian woman who made it clear that the first problem for her people was that of fighting genocide and starvation was thunderously applauded, while cries of "What about the Palestinian women?' met an Israeli who bemoaned the problems of life in a country with no civil marriage. On other issues considerable confusion was shown e.g. support was voted to the Rivate members' equal rights bill, while no comprenensive resolution on policy or statement of aims was put to the vote on grounds of lack of debate.
WHERE NOW?
Where does the movement go from here? Perhaps the most significant thing to come out of the conference was the workshop of about 70 women on Women's Liberation and the Trade Unions", called by Bristol Women's Liberation and IMG comrades who To avoid these dangers, Britain changed course again. The policy of confrontation, au Faulkner, was replaced with Whitelaw Mark I, as the oyster-eyed Gauleiter instituted a new policy to defeat the IRA. SIMPLE CALCULATIONS The new policy was based on relatively simple calculations. To defeat the IRA without provoking the danger of an anti-imperialist movement in the South or a solidarity movement in Britain, it was necessary to isolate the IRA from the Catholic population. To isolate it from the Catholic population it is necessary to grant such concessions to the Catholics as to endanger the "privileges" of the plebeian Protestants, and therefore to endanger the Orange monolith (see The Red Mole, 42). This risk had to be taken, and Whitelaw proceeded on his balancing act. A major part of these calculations was based on the belief that the IRA could rapidly be isolated from the Catholic community, forced to the conference table, hoodwinked and split before the complete disintegration of the Orange monolith. The success of the Republican leaders in avoiding this trap, the retreat by Whitelaw in the face of the UDA lynch-mobs on the streets of Belfast, combined to defeat this policy.
Whitelaw Mark/I was then implemented. As I explained (The Red Mole, 47) this policy was essentially one of the carrot and the big stick. In its essence a policy of confrontation, it intended to learn the mistakes of the first confrontation policy, where Faulkner had been so obsessed with the need to maintain Orange unity that he had forced the battle lines in the struggle so as to include virtually the whole Catholic community in the anti-imperialist camp. Whitelaw hopes to take on the resistance forces one by one, starting with the Provos, and to divide the Catholic community geographically by the implementation of different "profile" levels for the British army in Derry, Belfast and the border areas. After three months of this policy, it is possible to make some assessment of its success so far.
THE FALL OF WHITELAW Bearing in mind what the British policy hopes to achieve, and removing from our minds the effect of British propaganda about its success (one of the current jokes in the IRA is that the fastest way to get promoted is to be captured; then the British are sure to put you up at least two ranks in their press statements) what is clear in fact is that the British policy is in a shambles — a shambles of such dimension as to threaten Whitelaw's position. His failure to deal with the Orange-Ultras has swung the mass of the Catholic population in the ghetto areas back behind the Provos. His policy aimed at the oppos ite. His attempt to substitute the "detainment" by Special Courts for internment without trial is exposed for the fraud and