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PROTESTS IN GEORGIA СЛАВА СТАЛИНЫ! Slogan on a wall in Georgia, photographed recently, says, "Long live Stalin." The Soviet Republic of Georgia-birthplace of Jo- seph Stalin-has never been quiet for the Soviet revis- ionists. Students at the university of Tbilsi have frequently demonstrated, bearing portraits of Com- rade Stalin, and two years ago there was a campaign of bombings, including one att- ack inside the Republic's rubber-stamp parliament. The latest trouble in Georgia arose over an att- empt to adopt a new con- stitution that would have made Russian and not Geor- gian the official language. This is an integral part of the New Tsars forced Russi- fication campaign amongst the Soviet Union's minority nationalities. When this move was announced, there were mass protest demon- strations and Shevardnadze, local revisionist boss, was 'denounced when he appeared to try and appease the dem- onstrators. According to reports from Moscow, up to 30,000 people defied rep- (continued from p. 1) in Zaire in 1965 there was a crackdown against these imper- ialist-paid mercenaries, and some of them withdrew to the ethnically-related areas of northern Angola. At this point the Portuguese colonialists were facing a raging tide of national-liber- ation in Angola. They duly hired the Katangese Gendarmes to combat the liberation forces and to threaten Zaire which was supporting these forces. When the Portugues fascist regime was overthrown in 1974 the Soviet social-imperialists seized their chance to impose their neo-colonial rule over Angola. For a few months the revis- ionist (phoney communist) party which acts on orders from Mos- cow, held the upper hand in Por- tugal. They hired the Katan- gese mercenaries to pin down the national front for the li- beration of Angola (FNLA) in the north, thus giving the Russian bosses time to prepare the Soviet-Cuban invasion of Angola. cameron was right ression and took part in protest demonstrations. The area was abruptly closed to foreigners. Seeing the anger and militancy of the people, the New Tsars panicked and dropped their plans. Georg- ian will remain the offic- ial language. Georgia is not the only inmate of the new Soviet "prison-house of nations" that is giving the Russian bosses a headache, Accord- ing to recent reports, the Republic of Armenia is seething with protest bec- ause of the despotism of the Kremlin bosses. There have been several demon- strations in the capital, Yerevan. An organization called the Armenian Nat- ional United Party has been formed to wage strug- gle for national liberation. It is calling for a refere endum on independence to be held under United Nations supervision. The New Tsars are sit- ting on a volcano! Mercenaries, who are scum of the earth, will fight for who- ever pays them, and these par- ticular mercenaries are firmly in the pay of the Soviet Union. Two years ago "general" Mbumba was invited to the USSR and East Germany, and last year his forces, now known as the national front for the libera- tion (!) of the Congo (FNLC) were launched in an unsuccess- ful aggression against Zaire. Now, with more thorough Soviet preparation, the aggression is being repeated. The strategic goal of Soviet social-imperialism is to gob- ble up western Europe. While the Russian bosses are prepar- ing for a world war they would also like to subjugate Europe without a war, so they aim to control the raw materials on which European industry is de- pendent. The European ruling class is not unaware of this fact, which is why some European powers, especially France, have taken military action in Zaire. Prime Minister Callag- han's refusal to support the view that the Soviet fascist regime is the joint enemy of the people of Britain and China, is reminiscent of Chamberl- ain's attempted sell out to Hitler in 1939. Questioned on the stat- ement made by Air Marshall Sir Neil Cameron, Chief of Defence Staff, in Peking recently that China and Britain 'had a joint enemy whose capital was Moscow', Callaghan res- tated that the Labour government would con- tinue to stregthen relat- ions with the Soviet Union. Though the Soviet Union is now openly interfering in the affairs of African countries notably Angola and the Horn of Africa, continues to meddle in the Middle East, has subjugated many countries in Eastern Europe poli- tically and economically and even now seeks to strangle important supply routes to Europe, Callag- han refuses to differen- tiate between China as a friend and the Soviet Union as an enemy. Yet China has no troops in any other country or military bases, and her borders (like those of West Germany) are ringed by heavy concentrations of Soviet troops and weaponry. Just as Chamberlain held faith in his pact STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION But the European bourgeoisie cannot possibly take a firm stand in support of the inde- pendence of African countries, on the contrary they are con- cerned with their own imperial- ist economic interests in these countries. On the other hand, the cause of the working class in countries of the second world (like Britain and other parts of Europe) is entirely in harmony with the struggle of the peoples of the third world countries like Zaire to control their own economic resources and their own des- tiny. This is a struggle to eli- minate all forms of colonial- ist and neo-colonialist plun- der on which the whole imper- ialist system rests. 7 with Hitler, Callaghan told the House of Comm- ons that he and the Lab- our government continued to have full confidence in a policy of detente and disarmament by the Soviet Union. He refused to comment on information that the Soviet's arsenal of tanks poised around Europe now outnumbers NATO tanks by 3:1, and that despite numerous detente agree- ments, the Soviet Union continues to arm with bigger and more horrific nuclear devices as well as conventional weaponry. Neither has it gone unnoticed that Callaghan's sentiments are supported by the so-called 'left' of the Labour Party. Their support for app- easment towards the Soviet Social Imperialists (i.e. pretending to be socialist while looting and attempt- ing to dominate many parts of the world) is entirely in line with their plans for Britain. Their attempts to nat- ionalise everything in sight turning industry intothe collective proper- ty of the ruling class and calling it socialism- is part of the plan to turn Britain into a corporate state, aping the social system of the Sov- iet Union which pretends to be socialist but every- where reveals itself as fascist, with the mass of workers and peasants opp- ressed and exploited by a bureaucratic ruling class. This is why the Soviet Union was so hasty to accuse Sir Neil of being a 'drunken hare'. Sir. Neil's comments have hit their target. Chairman Mao's theory of the Three Worlds, scientifically analysed the different forces in the world, and constantly points out how the Soviet Social Imperialists con- tend with the United Sta- tes for control of the world and notably the industrial wealth of Eur- ope. Sir Neil's open admiss- ion that Chairman Mao is right is obviously an embarassment to the Brit- ish bourgeoisie. It may have been a mistake or a 'slip of the tongue', but his statement should be supported in the interes- ts of the British work- ing class. British workers demand a strengthening of ties with China and supp- ort for Sir Neil's state- ment not his condemnat- ion for speaking the tru- th.

8 BEING ILL IN CHINA PART 2 (Part 1 of this article appeared in "New Age" No.3.) My post-operative treat- ment included both modern medicine and traditional herbal medicine practised by the people for many centuries. The dressing on on my wound was impregnated with herbal oil which took away all itching. Anyone who has had a penicillin injection in the backside knows how painful they can be. But each injection I had was accompanied by a muscle massage. This made the muscles relax and the injections pain-free, even though they took a little longer. The emphasis all the time was on making the patient as comfortable as possible. I was given a room to myself and was a little concerned that this was preferential treatment, but as soon as I was able to walk reasonable distan- ces, I found that many patients, Chinese and non- Chinese alike, were in individual rooms, while others held only three or four patients, usually those well on the way to recovery. Also the corri- dors were mixed both in terms of sexes and adults and children. On my corridor there was a five-year old Morr- occan boy in hospital for a hernia operation. His mother, the wife of a dip- lomat, had given birth in the Capital Hospital and preferred her son to have the operation in China rather than at home. She was living in with her son and his younger brother was allowed in each day to play with him. The idea was that the child lived in this way for a week so he was completely happy and adjusted to his envir- onment when it was time for the operation when it was time for the operation. This was the rule rat- her than the exception. An English couple I met in Canton, who teach English, told me that when the hus- band had to have an opera- tion, his wife was asked to stay with him in the hos- pital so he would not feel strange and would be relaxed, Elsewhere in the Capital Hospital, relatives were living in with seriously-ill people, and even doing minor nursing tasks-fetching and carrying. The whole atmos- phere was one of community involvement and service. One particular incid- ent struck this home. I was inundated with fruit, sweets and chocolates from many friends in Peking, both Chinese and non-Chin- ese. In fact, it became embarassing. I gave many to other patients but still found I had too many, so I began leaving them on the nurses'desk. However, at the end of the day, they were returned to me in a small white dish. At first, I felt a bit annoyed but Dr. Chou explained to me that in old China, medical treatment had depended on bribery and gifts. In new China, the motto is "Serve the People" and doctors and nurses felt they should not take any gifts from people for their service, no matter how small the gift. Of course, a great deal more remains to be done in China. It is a poor country and is still developing its resources, but all those resources are channelled to the needs of the peo- ple. The main thing is that relations between people have changed with the establishment of soc- ialism. Looking at our wealth of resources in this country, I think, how magnificent could our national health sys- tem be if we destroyed capitalism and built a socialist system. Z.A. ANTI-CHINA RUBBISH ON ITV (Contributed) Independent Television (ITV) recently featured a programme by the pseudo- comadian Benny Hill, which was utterly banal, racist and sexist and its humour can only be described as lavatorial. Most obnox- ious was a sketch osten- sibly consisting of an interview with the"Chin- ese Minister of Culture." This sketch was grotes- quely racist, and an affront to the great Chinese people and to the British people, whose warm feelings of friendship towards the Chinese people are growing steadily day by day. This kind of rub- bish can in no way de- tract from the great prestige of China among the peoples of the world. ITV should be warned by Chairman Mao's statement, "The Chinese people have stood up." The days when the Chinese, people could be push- ed around by foreign imperialists are gone forever. Benny Hill and ITV are going against the trend of history. Chinese workers, armed politically and with guns, are ready at any time to defend all the gains they have made since Liberation. This paper, "New Age," is a paper of and for the working people of Britain. We welcome contributions from our readers. Com- ments and criticisms can be very valuable in helping us to improve the paper; information and articles are also very useful. Readers can also help by sending financial cont- ributions and subscribing (£2 a year), which will help us put the paper on a firm financial footing; selling the paper is first and foremost a political job-if readers buy a few extra copies of each issue to sell, they will be making a contribution to the struggle to build a revolutionary movement, with, in the future, a single revolutionary party of the working class at its core. Please send all subscriptions to: "New Age," October Books, 4B, Temple Court, LIVERPOOL 2. "New Age" is published by the COMMUNIST WORKERS' MOVEMENT (C.W.M.), a young Marxist-Leninist organ- ization of revolutionaries in Britain, which be- lieves that the building of a revolutionary party of the working class is essential for the struggle for a socialist Britain. Our programme, a short general statement of our views, is available from the above address at 15p post paid. Copies of "New Age" are 20p post paid. Please write for details of reductions for bulk orders and discount for shops. Imperialist soc- iety is in a state of deep decay; naturally, its culture reflects that. Decadent and de- generate culture is actively promoted, from stuff like the Benny Hill Show thr- ough to hard-core pornography. A racist, sexist, anti-working class thread runs through and links them. When the British work- ers take power, they will repudiate this in- sulting trash and build a shining new culture, based on the finest cultural trad- itions of the British peoples and adapting the best elements of the culture of the international pro- letariat, including that of China and Al- bania and other soc- ialist countries, and that built by peoples in anti-imp- erialist struggle. Scum like Benny Hill will have no place in socialist culture-for the first time in their lives they will have to make an honest living!

NEW AGE 10p MONTHLY PAPER OF THE COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT No.5. July, 1978 LIVERPOOL RUNDOWN (contributed) What is the reason behind the run- its effects are shown in areas ning-down of industry in Liverpool. like Liverpool. There is an oversimplified answer currently given by some left- wingers (and not denied by the bosses) to the effect that Liver- pool is being punished for its mil- itancy. Like all myths, this has a grain of truth in it - and like all myths it serves a purpose. The press and television hold up Merseyside with its dole queus as an object lesson to the rest of Britain's wor- kers. The "left-wing" myth avoids the necessity for further thought about how capitalism works and how Britain's industrial revolution. The deposition of King Cotton Liverpool is both the benefic- left Liverpool in a worse posi- iary and residual legetee of Bri- tion than Manchester. tain's imperialist heyday. It obtained its charter from King John as a port of embarcation against Ireland, but its fortunes only really began to soar in the period of the slave trade. By the time the slave trade was outlawed (William Wilberforce, the abolitionist, was hurled from the pier head for his efforts), King Cotton was established in both Liverpool and Manchester, and Liverpool was the port of MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES Manchester had an infrastruc- ture of engineering and manufac- turing industries to serve the cot- ton mills, which were easily adap- ted to other products. Liverpool did not. Its indus- tries were ones of processing and transporting raw materials, shipbuilding and the like. Bri- tain's declining position in world trade and the overall shift of new industries to the South East ex- acerbated the imbalance in Mersey- side's industries so that in all the postwar years, of alleged boom, Liverpool's unemployment was consistently twice the national average. That this did not cause more trouble than it has was perhaps be- cause the workforce - on the docks for example - was to a large extent casual, with a very small percen- tage of skilled craftsmen. And so there was not the problem of men re- fusing to take other jobs because of "overqualification", while many workers were used to spells on the dole. Capitalism, therefore, has anti- cipated on Merseyside its failure in the rest of Britain. STRIKE RECORD What then of Merseyside's strike record used as the excuse by the bosses for industrial decline? It is quite true, as the local chambers of commerce and Develop- ment Offices bleat regularly, that other areas have a worse strike re- cord in terms of days lost per wor- ker. It is also true that strikes on Merseyside have had a higher poli- tical content than usual. and have been fought with a bitter determi- nation. IN THE FRONT LINE Merseyside trade unionists were in the forefront of the struggles against "In Place of Strife" from Labour and against "Fair Deal at Work" from the Tories. In the major disputes of the last decade - the postmen, dockers, buil- ding workers, seamen - Merseyside workers have been first out and last in. Over the same period, Liverpool workers have been in the front line of the struggle against closures and (Cont'd overleaf) CONTENTS INCLUDE:- The State of the Unions. P.3. Kampuchea, Fear and Fantasy. P.5. Argentina. P.6. Afghan Coup. P.7. Police Raid Youth Club. P.8. Mutiny Papers "Lost" P.8. And more......... FORD WORKERS COMBINE KAMPUCHEA (Formerly Cambodia) has come in for many attacks in the press, and now "Penguin" has published a book which makes further accusations. Inside, DR MALCOLM CALD- WELL shows the flimsy nature of the "evidence" put forward by these critics (P.5.). (Above) Kampuchean women on the land. They are playing an immense part in the rebuilding of their country, Democratic Kampuchea. After years of isolated activity in the various Fords' plants in Britain, which has enabled union bureaucrats, such as the notorious Reg Birch, to negotiate sell-out deals one after the other, socialists and rank-and-file militants from all Ford (UK) plants have formed the Ford (UK) Workers Combine. It aims to draw up a package of dem- ands to organize and fight for on the shop floor. Their main demands are:- £20 on the rate, 5 hours off the week. No productivity deals, no penalty clauses, no strings attached! The Combine is fighting to have its demands taken up by all shop stewards at Fords'. The CWM supports the Ford Workers Combine in its fight for better pay and conditions. We also consider it important that the issues of racism and soli- darity with Ford workers in oth- er countries, particularly Third World ones, are taken up. Workers of all lands, oppressed peoples and nations, unite!

(Cont'd from p. 1) cutbacks, and many of these disputes have escalated politically because of the government's response. The builders' struggle against the Lump led to the vindictive pro- secution of the Shrewsbury pickets - and a consequent wave of protest strikes. The dockers' battle to limit the effect of containerisation led to the lawsuit brought by Heatons again- st them - and a further wave of pro- tests. Occupations of factories, now relatively commonplace, were pio- neered on Merseyside, from the abor- tive attempt in the '60s to stop Weinstock's GEC "rationalisation", to the successful occupation and retention of the Fisher Bendix Plant - now Kirkby Metal Industries, a workers' co-operative. CONFLICT AT SPEKE It is against this background that we should examine the closure of Leyland's Standard Triumph plant at Speke. Firstly, like many such capital intensive firms of Merseyside, the plant and equipment was purchased with high Government Grants - and it has become almost traditional that such firms move the equipment elsewhere as soon as they are legal- ly able! In the case of Standards this was compounded with "managerial incom- petence" in that the new sports car, specifically designed for the US market, was designed with a hard- top in anticipation of safety legi- slation which was never passed. Sales were far less than expected. Then came the lengthy, months-long engineers strike, touched off by management's refusal to abide by laid down procedures, followed by the acceptance of closure by a demoral- ised and weakened workforce. IMPORTANCE OF SOLIDARITY While not subscribing to the idea of "Wall Street plots", it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the closure of Standards was decided well in advance of its an- nouncement; that the strike was deliberately provoked with closure in mind; that it was intended as a warning to recalcitrant workers in Liverpool and elsewhere who fail to accept loss of conditions and wages during a time of unemployment; and that, above all, further clo- sures can be expected. Already Courtaulds, Birds Eye and other factories on Merseyside have used the threat of closure to blud- geon away hard-won conditions In the case of Birds Eye, expan- sion was actually made conditional upon a decrease in the workforce! Under such conditions, the soli- darity of the working-class accross the country, the refusal to accept work transferral, is essential. It is precisely in these circumstances that the trade union leaders who are in cahoots with thelabour gover- nment have been most active in sabo- taging solidarity and encouraging the instinct for self-preservation which arises in conditions of mass unemployment. The experience of Merseyside pro- vides a positive example for those who struggle while also showing the need for workers' struggles to have a correct political leadership. JOINT STEW. COMMITE SITE 2 OFFICIAL PICKET LINE Picket line at Speke. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Your article in the last issue, headed "Birch sinks lower", showed how Reg Birch, leader of the GPB(ML), is edging his way back into the Soviet camp. The new Marxist-Leninist groups and parties in Western Europe are still without exception small. Never- theless in some countries they are already beginning to be a thorn in the side of the revisionists (i.e. supporters of the Soviet Union). It is clear that in the long run will become quite an obstacle to Soviet attempts to organise a 'fifth column' in the European labour movements. Britain is almost alone in West- ern Europe in that a Marxist-Leninist movement has so far failed to develop on any scale at all. The only would-be Marxist-Leninist group which seemed capable, at one time, of gaining any credibility at all among workers was Birch's group, the CPB(ML). But Birch managed to handle workers' struggles in such a way as to put ten people off Marxism-Leninism for every one he got interested. And even then the 'Marxism-Leninism' had the anti-imperialism missing and was thus doctored to be fairly harmless to the New Tsars and their local agents. Visitors to the Soviet Union often remark that they are tailed around by secret agents. In the case of Birch's recent visit it must have been a case of gloating over him! Is it possible the KGB even arranged an interview with this valuable servant of Soviet social- imperialism? Or do they prefer to rely on his patently individualistic and egotistical character to ensure that he will continue without further encouragement on his present course of sabotaging the development of a Marxist-Leninist movement in Britain? Maybe we shall find out some day. Revolution drags a lot of hidden facts into the light. When the working class holds state power in Britain, it's clear that quite a few names on the 'left' in Britain will be exposed as having played the role (whether conscious- ly, unconsciously or semi-conscious- ly is largely irrelevant) of under- cover agents of British and super- power imperialism. Perhaps one of the names to be dragged through the mud will be that of a certain tin-god in the present right-wing leadership of the AUEW -- Reg Birch! 2 REVIEW "WHY PAUL FOOT SHOULD BE A SOCIALIST" - REVIEW. The Socialist Workers' Party has attracted to it quite a few people who want socialism and who see it a a revolutionary alternative to the Labour Party and the "Communist" Party of Great Britain. Their motives for joining it are good, but the SWP is not the alternative that they seek. This is argued convincingly in the CWM book "Why Paul Foot should be a Socialist" thereby making a Marxist-Leninist critique of the SWP. The writers chose to focus their criticisms of the SWP on Paul Foot's book, 'Why you should be a Socialist'" the contents of which sum up many of the faults of the SWP. The book is divided into two parts. Firstly, there is the section "Left in Appearance, Right in Essence", which demon- strates the SWP's failure to ex- pose the true role of the Labour Party, its trade union politics, its failure to analyse who are the friends and enemies of revolutionaries in Britain today, and its failure to take account of the international factors for and against revolution in Britain. The book shows that the SWP doesn't really grasp that the state is an instrument of class dictatorship, and can never be neutral in the class struggle. The second section, "What is Socialism and what has Paul Foot put in its Place?" shows how he rejects fundamental ideas and policies of socialism, and 'in- cludes an assessment of his historical references, under the headings "Socialism in Theory" and "Socialism in Practice". The book concludes by briefly dis- cussing the various "left" alt- ernatives to the SWP and indicates that the only real revolution- ary option is offered by the Marxist-Leninist movement. This movement is still small and relatively weak, but its strength and unity are growing, and its politics and ideology have stood the test of practice around the world, and proved themselves well. "Why Paul Foot Should Be A Soc- ialist" can be obtained from our national address (See back page) for £1.20, plus 25p postage and packing. Editor's note Birch is getting worse and worse. Since we received the above letter, he has gone even further in playing the Soviet social-imperial- ists' game, and in attacking China. In their May 11th issue of "The Worker" Birch's party denounces Hua Kuo-feng, "China's Prime Minister" and accuses him of betraying "all Mao Tse-tung stood for", though he has simply continued policies Mao began. In that and other papers, Birch sings the same tune as the Soviet Union, accusing China of war-mongering and trying to arouse the US and Western Europe to attack the Soviet Union. This is all lies. China warns that there is a danger of a new world war, which is certainly true; it also warns that this war will most likely be launched by the Soviet Union, which is a rising imperialist power which wants to grab new markets and spheres of influence, as its involvement (direct or indirect, via its puppets) in Angola, Ethiopia, Zaire and Afghanistan shows. Women's hospital losing survival battle The above headline about the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson hospital for women appeared in "The Guardian," a supposedly "liberal" paper, on 25th April. Since then, a campaign in- volving many women all over the country has forced the authorities to delay the closure of the EGA again. Headlines like this are often used in the press to try to dampen supp- ort for popular struggles.

3 THE STATE OF THE UNIONS The working class had to LABOUR'S DECEPTIVE NATURE fight hard to establish trade unions. Workers built them in the How is it that Labour has the teeth of violent opposition from their bosses, who used any means-beating up by hired thugs or the police, deportation, sackings and lock-outs-to try to crush all attempts by the work- ers to organize themselves to fight for better pay and con- ditions. But gradually, in one firm after another, the workers won. After a trail had been blazed by industrial workers, many white collar workers also unionized. Although quite a few of the smaller firms (like the comic printers, D.C. Thompson, in Scotland. or the notorious Grunwicks') continue to hold out, the majority of the work- iing population (about 12 mill- ion people) are now members of the unions that make up the TUC. But the ruling class has a way of trying to turn every gain made by working people to its own benefit, and it has been doing that with the trade unions for some years now, They have tried to make the unions into an arm of their class dictatorship over the working class, tying them to the state through the trade union bureaucrats and the Labour Government, firstly through the "social contract" then through the various" pay guidelines." They tried to hold back the struggles of workers and work- ing people for better wages under the Tories by attempting to control the unions using the Industrial Relations Act, but this move failed miserably. The Act was clearly recognized as a measure to weaken the working class' ability to organize through the unions for its demands, and was simply made in- operable by the resistance of hundreds of thousands of work- ers. The Industrial Relations Act had already been smashed when the new Labour govern- ment scrapped it in 1974; it wasn't doing the working class any favours, just claiming the working class's victory as its own, parliamentary one. Like the Tories, Labour is a party which serves the bosses, but it serves them in a differ- ent way, and this has been shown by its behaviour since the pres- ent government took office. It has achieved, to a large extent, the results the Tories wanted, but failed to get, by using different means. Instead of try- ing to shackle the unions with another "In Place of Strife" (Labour's forerunner to the Ind- ustrial Relations Act, prepared by Barbara Castle) they, togeth- er with most of the trade union leadership, have brought in the "Social Contract" and then the various "pay guidelines." Be- cause they controlled the union machinery, the trade union leaders claimed to be acting for their members, in co-operation with the govern- ment, and some even claimed to be acting for the working class, but workers and work- ing people have suffered a fall in their real wages under Labour, and received nothing from it which they had not already won by their own efforts. largely got away with this? The Labour Party was set up by the TUC as a political arm, and the leaderships of the two have been very close ever since. The Labour Party claimed to repre- sent the working class, and to stand for socialism, which it said could be won by electing La-ped bour to office. This was naturally attractive to millions of workers, especi- ally since for most of this cen- tury there has either been no revolutionary alternative to La- bour, or only a weak one.... But while Labour promised a lot to the working class, and drew members and support from it, it was never a working class par- ty, in the sense of being a party which upheld the highest interests of the working class. The class interests it repre- sented were always those of the capitalist class. After all, the emergency mea- sures used to defeat the 1926 General Strike had been pro- pared by the first Labour govern- ment in 1924, and the leopard has not changed his spots since then. Labour has lost support as it has demonstrated its true na- ture in practice, particularly while it held office. This was especially true in 1966-70, when it had a large parliamentary ma- jority, and nonetheless Britain was no more a socialist country when Labour eventually lost pow- er in 1970 than it had been at the beginning of that government. In February 1974, Labour's share of the vote fell to its lowest level since the '30s, This was due to the growing dissatis- faction of its traditional sup- porters. Nevertheless, some sec- tions of the working class still have illusions about the Labour Party, though most who vote La- bour no longer expect much from it; they only vote that way be- cause they still think the alter- natives are even worse. The people who have stayed lo- yal to Labour are the great majo- rity of trade union bureaucrats and officals, and it is these so- cial democrats who have accepted Labour's pay restraint (really pay cuts, since prices have gone up faster than wages) and tried to make their members do so. Many are Labour Party members; others who are not have also hel- Labour impose its policies. Some trade union officials who are members of the revisionist "Communist" Party of Great Bri- tain have attacked the "Social" "Contract" etc. in words, but in practice they have been against any effective working class ac- tion which might threaten the survival or re-election of the Labour Government, and have en- couraged illusions about Labour. Others, who pretend to be fur- ther left than the "C"PGB have also assisted Labour; for exam- ple, Reg Birch, who calls him- self a Marxist-Leninist and who is a member of the General Coun- cil of the TUC, worked hard to get strikers at Heathrow Airport, the Daily Express, and Ford's Dagenham to go back to work with their demands unmet. Employers, including the Daily Express bos- ses have expressed their deep gratitude to him. Because of the social-democra- tic and revisionist hold on the trade unions, they have been changed from organisations through which workers and working people fought for better wages and con- ditionsinto bodies used for the control and suppression of their struggles (this is why for years most strikes have been unofficial) DANGER OF FASCISM By linking themsleves closely with the Labour Government and its policies, the social-demo- cratic and revisionist trade union leadership is actively ta- king part in the building of a fascist-type corporate state, with capitalists and their govern- ment (a government which suppos- edly stands above classes) wor- king hand in glove against the working class. "WHITE LABOUR CAN'T BE FREE WHILE BLACK LABOUR IS IN CHAINS" Members of the Mansfield Hosiery Strike Committee. The bosses succeeded in defeating all the workers there by dividing them on racial lines. It is vital to combat racism in the unions. The power of Labour over many working class organisations, and its continuing ability to deceive some working people despite its reactionary character, make it a more dangerous enemy than the Tories, and make the revisionists and Trotskyists who hide its true nature all the worse. Part of the trend towards a cor- porate state is the varicus "wor- ker participation" schemes, who are supported by the Labour "lefts" These schemes involve a few trade union hacks being given places on boards of directors,etc. Of course, they will generally be people who are already well-in with management already, and even when they are not, "parti- cipation" along with a few cock- tails and a little golf, will en- courage them to see things from the bosses' point of view. This will soon lead to unions decid- ing who must be sacked, what wage levels should be "in the company's interest", etc. What we have said so far might all seem dispiriting. If the uni- ons are in such a state, why bother with them? WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE Two main tasks need to be under- taken. Firstly, most important, a Mar- xist-Leninist party of the working class has to be built. Secondly, rank and file trade union members need to fight for class struggle trade unions. The importance of the Party can- not be overstressed. A Marxist- Leninist Party will represent the highest interests of the working class. Such a party stands for its general class interests, not for any particular interests; it will oppose all moves by the so- cial democrats and their allies to make the working class accept its exploitation by the capital- ist class, and will fight for the working class' political and or- ganisational independence. The Marxist-Leninist Party will resolutely fight both the ruling lass and its agents within the organisations of the working class and working people, parti- cularly the revisionists and so- cial democrats; while supporting the struggle for strong, democra- tic class struggle unions, it will point out the need to go beyond bargaining for better terms within the present system; it will point out the need to over- throw the system by armed soci- alist revolution and establish the rule of the working class - the dictatorship of the prole- tariat. The Marxist-Leninist Party will work to win to its ranks the finest and most politically advanced sections of the working people who in'all the struggles in which they participate will try to be resolute class figh- ters, to provide sound leader- ship through example and per- suasion, and who will not sell out to the bosses. They will work hard and patiently to help the working people raise their political and ideological level to a Communist consciousness, to

the realisation of their fundam- ental interests and destiny. The Marxist-Leninists of today, and the Party of the future, will play a key role in the building of class struggle unions. The fight for class struggle unions will be a hard and com- plicated one, with different problems arising within each union and each union branch. Certain guidelines can be set out however. Union branches must be made as democratic as possible, and participation encouraged. Trade union hacks often use their know- ledge of constitutions and union procedure to monopolise and con- trol discussion, and write moti- ons in a language all of their own. These are favourite methods of the revisionists and social democrats. They also bore people until enough of them have gone away for them to push through their own proposals with the votes of their loyal band of sup- porters who stay for the purpose. Marxist-Leninists and militant workers should try to get union meetings held during work hours if possible. Rank-and-file mili- tants should work to make sure meetings take place fairly often but not too often; that they are short, effectively chaired, not boring, and deal with real issues. If Marxist-Leninists and militants are playing a leading role, it is all the easier to do these things. Unity is important for victory in any working-class struggle. Marxist-Leninists and militant workers must always fight to unite the great majority of their fellow workers by per- suasion and argument, and isolate the bosses' agents and allies and diehard reactionaries. Only with solid unity can struggles against an employer be won. Unity itself does not come without struggle, and con- flict with the social-democrats, revisionists, trotskyites and fascists in the unions will take place often. One of the favourite tricks of the social-democrats and re- visionists is to put forward their own ideas as those of the working class. When they are challenged, or counter-proposals are put forward, they accuse their opponents of being split- ters. Marxist-Leninists and mili- tants mustn't be intimidated by this sort of thing. It is right not to unite with those who would lead workers into more "social contracts", into dead-ends and class collaboration. The class struggle alternatives should be put as openly and firmly as pos- sible, so that the union members involved will see clearly the differences between our stand Russian workers in the days before the Revolution, organizing to seize power, as the British working class will. and that of such people. As the two lines are tested in practice, and the Marxist- Leninists and militants contin- ue to argue their views, these will win more support, and high- er levels of struggle against the bosses can be waged, with the union members more and more closely united around the class struggle line. The first stages of this strug- gle are difficult, because firms will always look for an excuse to fire militant workers, and a uni- on branch run by social democrats will often, as experience has shown, fail to defend the victi- mised worker - indeed, there are quite a few cases where the soci- al democrats actively helped man- agement pick out militants and fire them. However, when suffici- ent support has been built up for the class struggle line and its supporters, they will be able to work more openly and easily. Racism must be fought with Czechoslovakia: Ten years on...... determination because it breaks up the unity of black and white working people against their real enemies. Today especially, this is full time work. When tackling the social democrats, revisionists and Trotskyites in the unions, it is important to concentrate on fighting the political line and ideology they push, and to iden- tify and isolate the small hand- ful of misleaders putting for- ward their rubbish, who are gen- erally misguided but hones. This even goes for the fascists too - most of the young people they re- cruit are confused and have not seen any revolutionary alterna- tive (not surprisingly) in the fake "left". Trotskyites might throw up their hands in horror at this statement, but anyone who has worked in a place where there is a strong National Front pre- sence knows this is true. These people should be fought in the process of hitting at the capi- 4 talist class. The capitalist enemy should be treated as the main enemy facing the working class organi- sations externally, and the so- cial democrats and revisionists as the main enemy within these organisations. Generally, all unions need to be made more democratic; all shop stewards or union reps should be made accountable to union meetings; annual confer- ences should be able to throw out any top union official by a majority vote of no confidence. All officials should have to stand for re-election at least every four or five years, and no-one should be elected for life. Postal voting should be re- sisted, because it enables the press to interfere more easily in union campaigns to push the bosses' men. Officers should be elected by accountable branch delegates, mandated by their members through a general mee- ting after the manifestos of the various candidates have been circulated and discussion has taken place. Winning these things will make it easier for the mem- bers to control the union and elect a leadership which is ready to fight for their demands. This will make it possible to wage more effective, co-ordinated and organised struggles. Concrete demands must be put forward in each union, each firm and each union branch, tak- ing into account and summing up the demands and wishes of the workers there. Sometimes, mis- taken demands are put forward, and then better alternatives should be argued for in their stead. For example, some wor- kers who are short of money want more overtime to make up their wages, and favour keeping the firm they work for understaffed to enable them to get it. It should be pointed out that this only means having less free time to spend with family and friends, and keeping others unemployed. What they really want in the short term is higher wages, and these should be fought for. Marxist-Leninists and mili- tant workers should fight union rules and TUC rulings which limit the ability of trades councils to do their political work or which call for support for the Labour Party. They should oppose the use of union political funds to back Labour, and call for them to be used instead for anti-racist work, for campaigning against pay re- straint, against the trend towards fascism, etc. While these struggles are impor- tant, ultimately the only real salvation for the working class and working people is socialism. For Marxist-Leninists and revo- lutionaries all shorter-term goals must be subordinate to this. Peace Friendship 10 years ago, Soviet social imperialist forces invaded Czechoslovakia. This has been followed up by expansion and interference around the world by the Soviet Union, while Brezhnev has spoken about peace and "detente." The Communist Workers' Movement and Revolutionary Communist League of Britain are organizing a demon- stration on 20th August, marking the anniversary and condemning Soviet social imperialist aggression today. More details in our next issue. Security

KAMPUCHEA: FEAR AND FANTASY By Malcolm Caldwell (Dr. Malcolm Caldwell is a lecturer in South East Asian Economic History at the London School of Oriental and African Studies. He has been a consis- tent supporter of the Kampuch- ean revolution and all revol- utionary movements in South- East Asia. He is the co-editor of the Journal of Contemporary Asia, and the author of numer- ous books, pamphlets and art- icles, including "The Wealth of Some Nations" and "Cambodia in the South East Asian War" (with Lek Hor Tan)., It is perhaps hardly surprising that top people in the imperialist heartlands of the West have gone so far out on a limb gunning for Democratic Kampuchea, their faith- ful lackeys of the media falling over each other for the privi- lege of lending conviction to the fevered inventions of their masters. I say "hardly surprising", for the people's victory in Kampuchea was so swift, so total, so irrevocable, that it heralded speedy liberation in all neighbouring and comparable peasant neo-colonial economies such as, most particularly, Thail- and, Burma, Malaya and Indonesia. Significantly, the real mud- slinging and slander started just before the 1976 elections in Thai- land, in order to help the Right needlessly, as it turned out, for the machinery of repression was a lready tested and operative, gearing up for the blood-drenched coup in October that year. Penguin Books are weighing in with their not unimportant contri- bution to the campaign an English language version of Father Ponchaud's notorious book Cambodia Year Zero. It is worth spending a little time on consideration of this book, for, given the publishers, it is likely to have some impact, and there will be very few readers who chance upon it who know anything about Cambodia and the revolution there (except perhaps for some lurid horror stories vaguely recalled from the press). Incredibly, Penguins have chosen to emblazon both the front and the rear covers of the paperback edition with a quote from the totally disc- redited and now notorious Jean Lacouture review from the New York Review of Books. Incredibly, because leave aside the scandal of Lac- cuture's whole review (for which he eventually had to apologise and from which he partially retracted when pressed to do so by Noam Chomsky)-- the actual quote Penguins have chosen is one about which much controversy has raged, and which those who have followed the matter know now not to be worth the paper it is reproduced on. The quote is: "When men who talk of Marxism are able to say that only 1.5 million young Cambodians, out of six million, will be enough to rebuild a pure society, one can no longer speak of barbarism; what barbarians have ever acted in this way?" Now the clear implication is that Kampuchea's communist leaders are prepared callously to liquid- ate all but some small fraction of the total population discarding with brutal ruthlessness the old and unfit. That is, indeed, the implication which Lacouture wished us to draw from the sentence, and no doubt Penguin Books are quite happy that we should draw precisely this conclusion, embarking upon the text itself with a suitable shudder of disgust and a frisson of pleasurable anticipation of more blood and thunder to come. Alas for Penguin Books, the quotation is totally worthless, as I shall shortly show, and, moreover, the text itself, although it has frequently been wildly misused by these harbouring evil designs and purposes against Kampuchea, as will become apparent, does not, properly considered, live up to the "promise" of such a sensational introductory quote. Of Ponchaud's 94 testifying wit- nesses, only five even claim them- selves to have seen any executions. But there is a further complicat- ion, since some of his star wit- nesses have changed their evidence over time, conjuring up more lurid tales to satisfy the humour of the day and age. To the careful and sceptical reader, Ponchaud's book, in point of fact, is surprisingly sympathetic and fair to the Khmer Rouges (Kampuchean communists). Just to select one passing comment more or less at random, I'll repeat this one (from pp. 32-33 of the English language edition): "... some of the Europeans (i.e. in the Frech Embassy after liber- ation but prior to their evacuat- ion), who thought they were the greatest victims of the revolution, had no time for anyone but them- selves. They were used to living in Cambodia in the kind of comfort they enjoyed in their home countri- es... The Khmer Rouges treated the aliens very decently. They did their best to make this compulsory internment as painless as possible: we were never subjected to searches or surveillance, and in addition to water and rice they supplied us with beer and cigarettes, and brou- ght us live pigs to slaughter. Knowing how frugal their own diet was, it was hard not to appreciate the worth of these gifts." Further on Ponchaud makes the simple admiss- ion, which cannot but have been painful to him, wishing as he did to paint the communists as blood- thirsty mass murderers, that he personally "saw no dead bodies either in Phnom Penh or outside the town..." (p.39). Furthermore, he is candid enough to declare in his new introduction to the English text that the revolution was necess- ary, and that he, like many others, had "longed to see" it (p.10). In passing, it is worth drawing the reader's attention to another book, of scant intrinsic merit to be sure, which also is obliged to concede the point that the Khmer Rouges took pains to care for for- eigners who fell into their hands even those they had cause to believe might be hostile. I refer to the American crew of the Mayaguez, whose testimony on this point is apparently unanimous (they owed their lives to the sacrifices made by their Kampuchean captors). The book in question is The four days of Mayaguez, by R. Rowan (Norton, 1975). The only time they were in real danger was when they happened to be under the wanton and unprovoked aerial attacks mounted against Kampuchea by Pres- ident Ford in totally unnecessary "retaliation". One could also quote in this context the experiences of foreigners who have happened to stray across the frontier from Thai- land since liberation (for example, the Japanese journalist Naoki Mabuchi in April 1976 -- who also, incidentally, even then reported that the people "all appeared to be well-fed and in good health"). Which brings us to the after all more important question in the long run: how the ordinary people of Kampuchea have fared since liberation. And first let us turn to the Lacouture quote, used by Penguins almost certainly with Ponchaud's permission or acquiescence. Now this is really extraordinary, because Ponchaud has already admitted in private correspondence with the ever- vigilant Noam Chomsky that in fact as I pointed out in my own article in The Guardian (8/5/78) -- the saying was not attributable to any particular official, but was a common phrase, simply carrying the implication that the Cambodian people will solve every task whatever the odds. The point is that it does not carry the implication of ext- ermination which Penguins wish us to draw from it and this by Ponchaud's w/ private (never public) admission! It is tactics like this which have earned for the wily Father the disgust of Chomsky and others who have brave- ly tried to staunch the torrent of lies, inventions, and misint- erpretations abounding in media treatment of Kampuchea. Misuse of the book has formed much of the substance of much of the Western comment on Kam- puchea. As long as the book re- mained in French only, newspaper editors, journalists and others could freely misrepresent its burden secure in the knowledge that few English readers would bother to dig out and read the French text. Maybe others will now be encouraged to read it and compare its actual contents, carefully scrutinised, with typ- ical flights of fancy elaborated upon it. 5 The basic point is that, for all the flourish of corroborative detail, Ponchaud's guesstimates of 1 million or so "peace" (i.e. post-liberation) deaths basically rest, as he has again admitted privately, upon the following sources: US and Frech embassies in Southeast Asia, and "American care services in Bangkok". Ponch- aud was cautious enough not to use the notorious faked interview with Khieu Samphan, which is often cited by Western "scholars" and "experts", because again he admitted to Chomsky in private "I did not quote Famiglia Cristi- ana of September 1976, for I know for certain that the Italian journalist writing in that journal never interviewed Khieu Samphan; she was in the company of French jounalists and never left them." (Letter of 17/8/77.) In this conn- ection, Robert Moss, when asked what his source was for talking of a million dead, cited this very interview: I recently in an open letter to the Daily Telegraph (not published, but presumably forwarded to Moss) asked him what his source was now that his previous "source" (a deliberately faked interview) had been discredited, but he has so far effered no reply. And so it goes on. I'm sorry if all this bores you, but you will see what we are up against trying to clear the thickets of black propaganda in order to open up real discuss - ion on the Kampuchean Revolution its means, its significance, its achievements to date, and its promise. It is good that more and more visitors are now going to the country and adding their eye-witness reports to those of the earliest visiters and to official statements. It is clear that here we are faced with a really radical rural revolution, breaking away in important respects from all previous models (with, to take but one familiar example, abolition of money). I am, in fact, hopefully holding back completion of my own book on Kampuchea lest a chance pres- ents itself to see for myself. A footnote on the conflict with Vietnam. Kampuchean "aggress- ion" has been gleefully seized upon by the reactionary press as a further stick with which to beat their "sadistic murders" (charming epithet on a Times headline, actually describing an insident on the Thai border in which the US-backed Khmer Serei exiles were involved). In fact, there is a great deal at stake as the "experts should know. As long ago as 1972, the World Bank pointed out that the Mekong River Development plans if implement- ed would displace 700,000 Khmer and ethnic Lao peasants, while the main benefits would flow to Saigon and Bangkok. As the World Bank made clear, a "regional" approach would favour the two biggest Mekong basin countries (Thailand and Vietnam) while inflicting high costs on (Cont'd overleaf) PEOPLE'S ARMY MEMBERS STAND GUARD

Cambodia. Democratic Kampuchea's leaders are not prepared to accept these -- or any other costs -- which would detract from the country's hard-won independence and right to go its own way: "With both Vietnam and Thailand relying upon installations deep inside Cambodia, the Cambodian leaders would face the choice of serving their rivals' inter- ests -- or facing the military and political consequences if they did not. There is little doubt what the consequences might be. Vietnam and Thailand together have a population of some 90-95 million people. The Cambodians number less than 8 million." So much for Kampuchea's "irrational- ity", "xenophobia", and all the rest of the vilification reserved for it in the Western media... 6 ARGENTINA USSR Challenges US for Possession From our Correspondent covering the World Cup between the super- powers. EDITOR'S NOTE: Some tactics of state terrorism similar to the ones described in this article have been tested out by the Labour govern- ment in northern Ireland in prepar- ation for being applied when neces- sary elsewhere in Europe. We face a danger not just from openly Nazi elements like the NF but also from the corporate state which is the special creation of the Labour government. At the same time, Sov- iet social imperialism is prepar- ing to impose its savage rule on the whole of Europe. NEW AGE is careful to point out that fascist regimes are not necessarily openly rightist but very often pretend to be leftist, and are not always pro- American but increasingly often pro- Soviet. In 1973 Pinochet's fascist re- gime came to power in Chile by killing thousands of workers and progressives. This was promoted by the US ruling class. The bosses in the Kremlin made a disgusting show of "condemning" this coup -- the pur- pose of this hypocritical "condemna- tion" was to help them in contending with the USA for world domination. Because the anti-imperialist for- ces are getting stronger, US-backed dictatorships are crumbling all over the world. The Russians are trying in various ways to bring their own supporters to power and set up regi- mes which are often more reaction- ary than the ones they replaced, like in Ethiopia at the moment. In Latin America, where Soviet economic interests have been ex- panding vastly over the past five or six years, the popular movement against US domination is very strong. In order to profit from this anti- US movement, the Soviet bosses have to persuade people not to rely on their own strength but instead to rely on Soviet "help". The Soviet revisionist (i.e. phoney Communist) paper Internati- onal Affairs recently published an article about "the multi-nati- onals in Latin America" which grossly exaggerates the power of the US- owned companies so as to make it seem that the only way for Latin America to escape the clutches of the USSR as to the USA. Because of the contradictions ari- sing from the restoration of the capitalist system in Russia, the Soviet economy and particularly the agricultural sector is in a hopeless mess. The Kremlin bosses are oblig- ed to import foodstuffs on a massive scale in order to forestall starva- tion and the threat of revolution at home. Argentina, which used to be domi- nated by Britain and then by the United States, is unique among Third-World countries in having a large amount of food for export (it is the world's second biggest exporter of maize and third big- gest exporter of meat). This is one reason why the Russians would like to expand their stake in Argentina and take over control from its pre- vious imperialist bosses. Since the fascist coup of March 1976 the finance minister Martinez de Hoz has been pursuing a policy of brutally attacking the living standards of the working class in order to expand exports at all costs. Not surprisingly, he is con- sidered by pro-Soviet forces as "progressive". The Russian capitalist bosses are also interested in expanding their exports to Argentina, which have not so far been very great. They have sensed a vast potential market for their shoddy hydro- electric generating equipment, since important schemes are now underway in the central part of South America, including the Para- na River "project of the century", in which the Russians have already got themselves involved. Argentina has been the prey to a raging inflation, at its worst in 1976. In such circumstances it was up to the working class to see how much of its purchasing power it could wrest back through class struggle, and in order to prevent this the fascists (using "left-wing terror- ism" as an excuse) unleashed a sinister white terror which is still raging unabated. In Argentinian fascism, one ten- dency is to gang up with the USA (like the Chilean junta does), but there has for a long time been an anti-American fascist tendency which during the Second World War pinned its hopes on a victory for Nazi Germany; today, this trend may be prepared to link up with Soviet social-imperialism. The anti-US trend used to be re- presented by Ramon Diaz Bessone, Minister of Planning who in practice the US is to hand itself over heart and soul to the Soviet Union. This article argues that "inter- national monopoly capital disposes of powerful levers by which it can exercise political, military and economic pressure, and there still exist many ways in which the Latin American countries depend on im- perialism, a fact in no little de- gree connected with the considerabl economic and sometimes also politi- cal isolation of many Latin American states from the socialist community countries" (i.e. the economic bloc controlled by Soviet social imperi- alism - ed.) Another Soviet article on "the liberation struggle in Latin Ameri- ca" argues that Latin American uni- ty "would be unthinkable without in- ternational detente which is growing in strength and which serves to nar- row imperialism's sphere of activity and put insurmountable obstacles in the way of imperialist interference in the affairs of other states in order to undermine the ongoing libe- ration process and prevent any change in their policies towards progressive socio-economic develop- ments". For "progressive" read "pro- Soviet". This means that the only way for Latin American countries to win "liberation" is to align with the Soviet policy of contenti- on with the USA for world domination under the cover of phoney detente, and at the same time lay themselves open to Soviet economic plunder. A key target of Soviet expansion in Latin America is Argentina, its largest trading partner in the re- gion. The Soviet Union has not ut- tered a word of disapproval about the fascist atrocities committed by the Argentinian junta. On the con- trary, in August last year Russia deliberately blocked discussion of the case of Argentina in the United Nations human rights commission in Geneva. This Soviet assistance came only a few days after the conclusion of a major Soviet-Argentinian trade agreement (August 19 1977). Even before that economic relations were flourishing. According to offi- cial junta statistics, in the first three months of 1977 Argentina expor- ted over ¢ 61 million worth of goods to the USSR, about 5% of Argentinian total exports. Over the whole of 1976 it exported almost as much to was the second most powerful person in the ruling clique after Videla. When he was kicked out at the end of December last year, the Kremlin ih- structed its mouthpiece, the revisi- onist "Communist" partyof Argenina, to speak out in his support. A statement by this party publi- shed in the East German revisionist rag "Neues Deutschland" expressed also their support for General Vi- dela, head of the fascist junta, particularly over his proposal for a "dialogue" leading to a closer in- volvement of civilians in the govern- ment. According to the revisionists this would be the only way of preven- ting a so-called "Pinochetization". In fact it is obvious to anyone that the fascist dictatorship in Ar- gentina is already even more brutal and repressive than the Pinochet re- gime in Chile. It is well known that a favourite method of the junta is, apart from the murders, kidnappings and tor- tures openly carried out by its own security forces, to encourage at the same time bands of fascist thugs to do the same kind of things in a semi- autonomous way and thus increase the atmosphere of terror. This is obviously a well-co-ordin- ated part of the whole system and an indispensable support for the Argen- tinian junta's vicious anti-working class policies. Yet in their eager- ness to butter up the potentially pro-Soviet elements, the Kremlin leaders go so far as to say (in their journal New Times of December 1977) that "the authorities have not taken effective enough action to deal with the ultra-right terrorism" - as though the junta ever had the slightest intention of "dealing with" it!! Fascist terrorism is already prac- tised in a systematic way in the USSR and in countries under its con- trol like Ethiopia. The only reason the Russians fear a "Pinochetization" in Argentina is that Pinochet in Chile represents a pro-American style of fascism, whereas the Russians are striving to promote a pro-Soviet fascist system. Evidently Brezhnev is encouraging the Argeninian junta to throw it- self into the Soviet sphere of in- fluence, whereupon it will be accor- ded the assistance of the revision- ist "Communist" Party to help cont- rol the labour movement from inside, and will be described by Russia as a "progressive" regime. *

WHOSE COUP? The Daud regime in Afghanistan was recently overthrown by a Soviet engineered coup. Soviet Trained pilots play décisive role The Afghan airforce possesses some of the most advanced and destructive war-machinery that has been developed by mankind. Even more important, pilots and other technical personnel have been trained by the Soviet Union to be capable of using it effec- tively. The pilots spend 7 or more years in the Soviet Union, and return home with skills which rank them among the most highly trained pilots in Asia. Furthermore, they have thir heads pumped full of revisionist ideology, and are totally subser- vient to Soviet interests. has thus incurred the wrath of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union has now turned to Baluchistan, where it has long had another iron in the fire. The territory of the Baluchi spans Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Like the Kurds, Somalis and other nationalities divided by state frontiers, the Baluchis have waged a long and complicated struggle for their national rights. Soviet imperia- lism has long taken advantage of this to try to fish in trou- bled waters, by tyring to use the legitimate demands of the Baluchi people to build up its own inflence. Baluchi secessionist forces suffered various defeats at the hands of Bhuttos' army. The So- this explains the speed and effi-viet Union dashed forward to ciency of the coup, in which the airforce played the decisive role in the victory of the anti- Daud faction. It is therefore no surprise that Tarakki, the chief- tan of the local revisionists was promptly announced as the head of the post-coup government. The Soviet Union is now moving fast to transform Afghanistan into a Soviet client state as full of sophisticated weaponry as Ethiopia; and, by contrast with the Ethiopian case, there will be no need to turn to Cuba to supply pilots capable of using it. All the Soviet Union needs now is a breathing space in which strengthen its hold. But re- bent reports suggest that oppo- sition is building up; in the past few days the air-force has been making sorties against rebel areas. However the armed forces remain loyal, and the tremendous speed at which the Soviet Union can now carry out large-scale military transit operations (as recently demonstrated in the Ogaden war) will probably enable the Kremlin to establish in Afghanistan a new 'Dergue' i.e. a military-fascist dictatorship totally subservient to Soviet imperialist war aims, along the Lines of the present regime in Ethiopia. Soviet Designs on Pakistan The question now being asked in neighbouring Pakistan is this: will the Soviet Union now attempt to push its luck and use its position of strength in Afghanistan to stir up a new conflict that could lead to the further disintigration of Paki- stan? The Soviet Unions previous record in Bengal in 1971 shows that it will stop at nothing in such attempts to extend its influence in South Asia. During the years of Bhuttos' rule Soviet intrigues centred on the North West frontier pro- vince, and in paticular on the National Awami Party led by Wali Khan, whom the Soviet Union hoped to make the Mujib of the Frontier province ( i.e. the leaders of a new secessionist state under Soviet dominance, along the lines of the earlier Bangladesh). However, Wali Khan has switched his bets, and is now placing his hopes on the elect- ions that have been promised by Pakistan's military regime. He Union to use the Baluchi of Iran as a 'Trojan Horse' to gain a bigger toe-hold in Iran. The Shahs' dictatorship is now tot- tering under the blows of the Iranian masses, and the Soviet Union would dearly love to turn their gains to its advantage by establishing a pro-Soviet regime in post-Shah Iran, instead of a peoples' democratic govern- ment. Labour governments' collusion What has Britains' Labour government done to alert the British people to the serious threat to world peace that is posed by such Soviet adventures? Nothing! On the contrary, pro- Soviet elements are given a fair- ly free hand to conduct their intrigues in London. In additon the British press does nothing to make the truth known. The 'liberal' British press has been making a big to-do about atrocities committed by the mili- tary regime in Pakistan. What hypocrisy! British imperialism and its mouthpieces couldn't give a damn about the sufferings of third world peoples as was shown by their blackout on Brit- ish aggression in Dhofar, Oman. Oppression in Pakistan, whose root cause is imperialist exploi- tation by the US and Western imperialism, will be dealt with by the Pakistani masses, not by self-righteous and hypocritical leader-writers on the staff of the Guardian ang other British newspapers. Meanwhile these papers maintain a stony silence on developments whose danger for the people of Pakistan and the whole world completely overshadows any mis- deeds of Zia and his fellow British-trained blimps. provide facilities for secessio- nist leaders who went into exile. For instance, the Soviet Union. beams a daily broadcast, 'Free Baluchistan', from Iraq. Exper- ience in Bengal, Ethiopia and elsewhere shows that when the Soviet Union intervenes in such a way, its motive is not the democratic and peaceful solution of such national questions or their revolutionary solution. On the contrary, its motive is to exploit such nationalist causes for its own aims by trying to gain influence in their leadership and if possible hijack it. If, therefore, the Soviet Union succeeds in arming Afghanistan and is creating a receptive Bal- uchi leadership prepared to go Balong with Soviet aimes, then the situation in Pakistan could soon become very dangerous. A new, pro-Soviet statecof Baluchistan In the case of Bengal in 1971, the Soviet Union succeeded in beginning the dismemberment of Pakistan. In that case, the Indian army fulfilled three functions: it delayed the Pakistan army; it enabled the Soviet Union to remain out of the firing line (like the cubans did in Ethiopia and Angola); it prevented the new state Bangladesh from achei- ving genuine independence and non-alignment after its creation. the Afghan army and airforce are only too well equipped to play the role in Baluchistan that the Indian army played in Bengal. The strategic advantage that would accrue to the Soviet Union from a new, pro-Soviet state of Baluchistan would be even grea- ter than those it stood to gain from Bangladesh. The dream of the old Tsars of pre-1917 Russia would at last come true, and the Soviet social imperialists would reach 'warm water' on the north shore of one of Europe's most vital trade routes the Indian Ocean. It is by this route that Western Europe receives its main supply of energy oil from the gulf. By acheivingdominance in the Indian ocean, the Soviet Union will be in a position to weaken decisively the European capitalist countriesinto which it wishes to expand. A pliant Baluchi leadership would also enable the Soviet Second world countries must reject 'appeasement 7 The Labour government must not be allowed to go on pussy-foot- ing about Soviet agression around the world. The bitter experience of 'appeasement' in the 1930s shows that it is the new and up-and-coming imperialist powers (in those days the Axis powers, today the Soviet Union) which constitute the most dangerous source of war, and that 'appea- sement' only allows them the opportunity to accumulate greater strength and prepare yet greater sufferings for the people of the world. Experience shows that when such a power starts to go on the rampage, it can only be stopped in its tracks by uniting all who can be united against it. The trend among second world co countries of Western Europe to unite against the Soviet threat should be welcomed and fully utilised. It is one more blow for Soviet war schemes. It res- tricts the Soviet Unions' ability to launch imperialist agressión in the third world, and thus provides greater scope for anti- imperialist struggles in the third world to avoid imperialist domination by the Soviet Union when escaping that of the United States. While the Labour government spreads fairy stories about 'detente', the third world peoples have to shed their blood and bear the brunt of struggle against the superpowers. We must not let the Labour govern- ment get away with such 'appease- ment' policies while the Soviet imperialists tread in Hitlers' footsteps. *** FROLINAT Forces on the attack in Chad. French Troops Out of Africa! In our last issue. ("Zaire -- Kremlin steps in," New Age No.4) we attacked the invasion of a sovereign state masterminded by the Soviet social-imperialist. However, the Soviet Union is certainly not the only imperialist power that is woking against the liberation of Africa, though it is a particularly dangerous, up- and-coming power. France maintains many thousands of troops in various countries and is the principal backer of a number of neo-colonial regimes such as Gabon and the Central African "Empire" of the blood- stained Jean-Bedel Bokassa. The French imperialists are fighting two aggressive wars in Africa. French Mirage fighters have strafed columns of the heroic Saharawi patiots of POLISARIO and they have adv sers with the Moroccan and Mauritanian arm which are occupying Western Sahara. The Madrid Agreement whereby Franco- ist Spain "gave" Western Sahara to Morrocco and Mauritania was made largely to preserve French super- profits from the phosphate mines of the area. In Chad the neo-colonial regime of Malloum would have been toppled by the National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT) were it not for the 7000 French troops that (Cont'd over)

(Cont'd from p. 7) have been rushed there. FROLINAT have killed and captured many soldiers, shot down a Jaguar fighter and liberated the town of Abi, 260 miles North East of the cap- ital city of Najamena. The French are also deeply imp- licated in the recent coup that overthrew the progressive govern- ment of Ali Salih in the Indian Ocean Pepublic of Comoros. Robert Denard, a French mercenary who served with the Katangese gendarmes in the early 1960s, arranged the coup and is the effective power in the new government. France refuses to hand over the Comoro territory of Mayotte and also main- tains troops in Djibouti despite "granting" it "independence". The island of Réunion is still a direct colony. There are large French garrisons in Senegal and Ivory Coast, which act as bases for aggression. France is also the only country to openly supply the racist South African regime with arms. Whilst French intervention in Zaire had a limited progressive role in that it helped to beat back the Soviet-engineered invasion, this does not mean that Marxist- Leninists support the Zairian reg- ime or the motives of the French. Their intervention is goaded by the desire to keep a hold on their Shaban supplies of copper, industr- ial diamonds, cobalt, uranium, radium, gold, zinc, tin, nickel, chrome and manganese. Moreover Marxists do not support a regime with 70 per cent infant mortality in its capital city whilst its leader is the second richest head of state in the world. France and other second world countries should be supported when they take steps to counter ther superpowers, especially social imperialism, but we must not forget that the basic nature of imperialists does not change and what motivates the French intervention in Africa, primarily is the need to preserve their superprofits by which they maintain their exploitation of the people at home and abroad. The The policies of the French in Africa show that it is not enough merely to give lip service to Chairman Mao's theory of the three worlds -- it must also be understood. This means we must grasp the real nature of the second world and build the international united front against superpower hegemonism through struggle and not through yielding to the more backward and reaction- ary components of the united front. ** IRAN Iranian students in Britain org- anised protests against the visit of the fascist Crown Prince to "attend the Ascot races" with the Queen. The British imperialists have been firm supporters of the regime of the Shah ever since they put him in power to prevent the national democratic revolution. The "Labour" Government has praised the Shah's fascist policies (for example, Minister of Defence Mulley's speech in Tehran) and an arms deal worth £750 million has been signed. This "visit" coincides with a renewed revolut- ionary upsurge of the Iranian people. NO WARPLANES FOR INDONESIA ! British Britain has agreed to sell 8 Hawk Ground Attack/Trainer Air- craft to the military govern- ment of Indonesia. These planes, valued at £25 million, are by British Aerospace and are able to carry weapons like roc- kets and cluster bombs. What is wrong with this sale? These warplanes will be suit- able for use in the brutal Indonesian government is waging against the people of the former Portuguese colony of East Timor. At least 30,000 troops are being deployed in this war, and the jets could play a cruc- ial role in the future offensives designed to overcome the resis- tance of the people led by FRETILIN. 100,000 people, 1/6th of the population, have been killed in East Timor. The aircraft could also be used against the Free Papua Movement which is fighting for the liberation of West Irian. The sale of these warplanes will strengthen a repressive regime that holds tens of thousands of political pris- oners. The Indonesian govern- ment came to power by murdering a million communists, democrats and patriots. Freedom of the press is non-existent, arbitrary arrests occur constantly and student demonstrators have recen- tly attacked and detained. This sale exposes the phoney concern for "human rights" the British Imperialist govern- ment who have to approve econo- mic aid and arms exports. Not only has this "labour" govern- ment approved the sales but Britain "grants" Indonesia more "aid" than it does any other non-commonwealth country. Requests for more information, offers of help in the campaign to stop the sales and financial contributions to:- British Campaign For An Inde- pendent East Timor, 40 Concannon Road, Brixton, London SW2. MUTINY PAPERS "LOST" The government says that it "cannot find" the records of inquiries held into the British Army mutiny at Etaples in 1917. Army minister John Gilbert has told MPs that the records were probably destroyed years ago. The mutiny was caused by army brutality and sparked off by the shooting of a soldier by military police. Troops captu- red the commanding Brigadier and his officers and threatened to burn them to death unless their demands were met. Later all the officers were thrown into the river. The leader of the revolt, Private Percy Toplis was later branded an "outlaw" in Britain. In 1920 he was shot dead in a police ambush and was buried in a "paupers grave" at Ullswater in the Lake District. The revolt is the subject of a recent book, "The Monocled Muti- neer" by William Allison and John Fairley. Whilst the lives of imperialist bigwigs and Kings and Queens are recorded in minute and sycophan- tic detail, the "loss" of the Army papers on this mutiny shows to what lengths the ruling class will go in order to suppress and distort the glorious history of struggle by the British working class. We must fight to redis- cover and protect our history! POLICE-- Youth Club Raided The black community in Brix- ton has lodged strong protests against the most recent acts of police harassment of youth raids on the Railton community centre on the evenings of 24th and 25th June. Police, includ- ing members of the elite Spec- ial Patrol Group thugs, arrived at the centre on 24th on the pretext of looking for a youth who had attacked a policeman. A black clergyman said, "More than 30 police came in and started walking around, trying doors, before they even spoke to the leader of the cen- tre...if they do this when there are more young people then noth- ing will stop a riot." A leader of the centre said, "I spoke to one of the policemen who came in on Friday night, but while he showed me his identif- ication about 15 more were going around like a bunch of commandos. I appealed to the police but their attitude was so hostile. They took 2 of our helpers away and 2 members who had just dropped in before the disco started." This was the fourth police raid on the club in recent months. Arrogant racist police commander said, "We were look- ing for this man, who we now believe to be a black man, in the obvious places, that is, those places where black people congregate." The Brixton police force is notoriously racist- this is shown not only by famous cases such as the "Railton 3," but also by the many hundreds of arrests of black youths on trumped up "sus" charges-suspicion of "loitering with intent to com- mit an offence," a catch-all charge which could make a person standing in a bus queue liable to be arrested! However, the police are not getting all their own way- the black community is organizing against "sus" and West Indian youth are fighting back against racist police attacks. They know they are here to stay in this country, and they won't stand for racialism, Nazi att- acks or police thuggery! This paper, "New Age," is a paper of and for the working people of Britain. 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