Workers' Weekly V.28 No.24-25

RCPB(ML) joins with all democratic and peace-loving people in Britain, in the US, and throughout the world, in condemning with a sense of great outrage and without hesitation the cruise missile strikes by US imperialism against the sovereign states of Afghanistan and Sudan. Our Party also vehemently condemns the unequivocal support given to these heinous crimes by the British government, together with the major parliamentary parties. Such support brings disgrace to this country's name and in no way represents the sentiments of the British working class and people. In their name, we demand that the government immediately withdraws its backing to these crimes.

The strikes of 75 cruise missiles against targets in Afghanistan and Sudan are the epitome of state terrorism. They are a direct challenge to the very notion of international law and justice. US imperialism gives itself the right in the most brazen fashion to trample on the sovereignty of states and of peoples wherever in the world it chooses. It gives no indication whatsoever that it recognises the democratic and elementary concept and right of the sovereignty of peoples. It is raining down violence, death and destruction on their heads, openly doing so under the signboard of "defence of American interests". There is no shred of legitimacy in this crime other than the imperialist and medievalist doctrine of gangsters that it is, in fact, "Might which makes Right". It has no shame that scores of people are killed and injured, that the wellbeing of the people is counted as less than nothing, that their right to go about their lives in peace is shattered. Indeed, the US imperialists are declaring that this is but the beginning. This is a very dangerous situation for the world's people.

The aggression has left the US and Britain, together with Israel which also gave its support, isolated and condemned in the international arena. Not only have the governments of Afghanistan and Sudan condemned the strikes, but UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed his concern. Spontaneous demonstrations took place throughout the world, in the US and Britain, as well as the two countries which have been violated.

We call on the working class and all justice- and peace-loving people to swell the ranks of this movement against US imperialist aggression and state terrorism. We call on them to take an unshakeable stand in support of the sovereignty and independence of peoples and nations. We further call on the British working class and people to raise their voices against government support for the US crimes, and to take a stand against the archaic and barbarous values that it represents, hastening the day when such crimes committed against the peoples will become consigned to history.

Down With the US Aggression against Afghanistan and Sudan!

End State Terrorism!

Down with the British Government's Support for the Crimes!

For the Sovereignty and Independence of the Peoples of the World!

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NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE

The Development of the Various Movements of the Working Class and People

The following is a summary of points made in the paper on the development of the various movements of the working class and people, presented to the National Consultative Conference on July 18 by a member of the Central Committee.

THE PAPER pointed out that the communist party is and must be the most important subjective factor in the working class movement. This is why the Party had in 1994 defined for the working class the stage of the class struggle in Britain as one between those who are bringing back medievalism in order to guarantee their own interests – by protecting a system which cannot and does not provide for all – versus those who want to take the struggle against medievalism to its logical conclusion - which included bringing about deep going transformation of the system through revolution - in order to ensure that it guarantees the lives and liberties of all. Thus the need for the working class to elaborate and organise around its own independent programme based on modern definitions had become the number one task for the working class to prepare itself to transform society from capitalism to socialism. The Party put forward its draft for such a programme in the Draft Programme for the Working Class in January 1995 and had taken this work a stage further with the call Stop Paying the Rich – Increase Investments in Social Programmes! in May 1997.

The paper pointed out that given the high development of the productive forces, including the most recent scientific and technical revolution, the working class must provide itself with modern definitions of what society should be today and in the 21st century. Only by the working class arming itself with modern definitions on what society should be today could they defeat the arguments of those who want to take society back to medievalism. The paper showed that this task was even more important today after one year of Tony Blair because the bourgeoisie had brought New Labour to power to try and manipulate the opposition to the anti-social offensive with its claims of "modernisation" of education, the NHS and welfare reform, by pressing ahead with the attacks on the most vulnerable sections of the people. In reality what New Labour was doing was trying to reconcile the aims of the working class to the demand of the bourgeoisie that the whole of society should pay tribute to the financial oligarchy with the terrible consequences that brings for the majority in returning society to medievalism.

The paper showed that modern definitions mean that society can have no other aim but in meeting the claims of its members and the collectives within it. The paper declared that how can New Labour say it is "modernising" welfare provision when it does not recognise that a livelihood is a human right and its provision is the responsibility of society as a whole and when the marginalised and vulnerable are being told that they are part of the problem and their human dignity is being called into question and used as an excuse for savage cuts against social programmes. What was required was for the working class to fight for the expansion of social programmes through increased investments by demanding a moratorium of interest and debt payments to the financial oligarchy as the only way to start to satisfy the aim of modern society to meet the claims of its members and the various collectives within it.

The paper pointed out that it was in this context that the whole struggle which has broken out over the last year among the various collectives should be seen. The paper outlined the struggles of the unemployed, the pensioners, the disabled, the health workers, the teachers and students against the cut backs and how these were making an important contribution to the struggle against the anti-social offensive. It outlined the struggles of the workers against capitalist exploitation and how this struggle was in the general interests of society.

The paper showed that the developments in the various movements confirmed the importance of the elaboration of the independent programme of the working class using modern definitions in the work of the Party to Improve the Content, Expand the Readership of Workers' Weekly and aimed at developing the movements of the working class and people. It further confirmed the crucial question of getting rid of the old thinking and taking up demands based on these modern definitions.

The paper concluded by raising the question that now the Party having taken its initial stand on putting forward the programme Stop Paying the Rich – Increase Investments in Social Programmes! with all that means in putting forward how to change the direction of the economy, that the people have rights simply because they are human, and that people have to be sovereign and so on. Now, the Party has to go on to elaborate and implement the programme further and widen the discussion on it. How to do this, was one of the main questions for the Party to take up.

Rights Not Privileges

We are reprinting another intervention given at the National Consultative Conference. It was made as a contribution to the discussion in the session dealing with the present national and international situation.

One of the features that characterises the present national and international situation is that the bourgeois offensive is forcing people to say they do not have rights, they only have privileges. So everything is made a matter of concession, which the bourgeoisie allows one day and then takes off another time. The working class, the women, the youth, they cannot accept it. They have to inscribe on their banner that they have rights which are inviolable and these rights come by dint of their being, as humans or their collective. On this one cannot compromise even one iota. Because once you compromise on this, then it is all downhill. It is very, very important that in all our work, whether we are seeking the unity of the communists, whether we are seeking the unity of the working class, or seeking the unity of the people as a whole, that we inscribe on our banner all the rights of all the peoples by nothing else except that these rights belong to them by dint of their being human. It is a very important issue that we must take to the broad masses of the people and not compromise on this.

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FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF PASSING AWAY OF COMRADE HARDIAL BAINS NATIONAL LEADER OF COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA (MARXIST-LENINIST)

Commemorating Comrade Hardial Bains, Beloved Friend and Mentor

It was with profound emotion that comrades and friends, young and old, gathered together on the afternoon of Sunday, August 23, for a short commemoration marking the anniversary of the passing away of our beloved comrade Hardial Bains.

The venue was John Buckle Books. The bookshop of RCPB(ML) is not only an outlet for Marxist-Leninist, revolutionary and progressive literature. It is a centre for political discussion, discussion on contemporary Marxist-Leninist thought and on the solution of the problems which the people and society face. It was here that Comrade Bains himself had held discussions on his generously frequent visits to this country and clarified many important issues on what now appear to be far too few occasions, since its refurbishment a number of years ago.

The Party's bookshop is not that large and there is a limit to the number of people that can be crammed in. But on this occasion it felt like its seams expanded to accommodate those who were paying their respects representing all the masses of the people that knew and loved Comrade Bains, as one after another they entered the shop out of the heavy rain.

Chris Coleman, representing the Central Committee, welcomed Party activists from the various regions of the country, the North, the Midlands and of course London and the South, he welcomed comrades who had worked with Comrade Bains over the years on the political front, as well as on the cultural and scientific fronts, and comrades who worked with Comrade Bains right back at the founding of The Internationalists in Dublin, and from the younger generation, school and student youth comrades who loved Comrade Bains and were very close to him and upheld him. He welcomed a number of old friends of the Party who were also very good friends of Comrade Bains, as well as comrades who militate in organisations representing communities whose countries of origin stretched from Africa to the Caribbean and to the Indian sub-continent.

Two cultural items opened the short commemoration. The author John Maharg read his moving sonnet "In Tribute to the Memory of Comrade Hardial Bains", which was followed by a beautiful new instrumental composition, rendering for violin and piano a choral work which sets the words of the sonnet. All then stood for a minute's silence. The tributes to Comrade Bains from the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), the Indian Progressive Study Group and the Indian Workers' Association (G.B.) which were then given are printed alongside. The commemoration ended with all standing to sing The Internationale.

Refreshments had been provided in an adjoining room, and the comrades and friends of Comrade Bains lingered for many hours. Although the occasion was one of profound sadness on the loss of our beloved friend, at the same time the atmosphere was not at all one of gloom. On the contrary, it embodied that hope and conviction of a new and better society, a socialist society fit for human beings, full of social love, to be achieved by dint of the hard work and vision of the people themselves, which were Comrade Hardial Bains' legacy through the consciousness and organisation with which he imbued the communists and the masses of the people.

In tribute to the memory of Comrade Hardial Bains

Be silent, says the heart, yet words are all

We have to say; this was a man who took

The heart and mind by storm and with his call

To arms for revolution wrote the book

Anew. He was not only for his time,

But for that time to come when all who choose

To right the wrongs of class oppression climb

The heights, and from the mountain tops accuse

With more than words who would deny the mass

Their right to rule by their choice, undeceived.

So fought this comrade for this right, and pass

Who may in silence or who will relieved

He no more will the rostrum mount; he will—

In us— for he in us is living still.

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FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF PASSING AWAY OF COMRADE HARDIAL BAINS

Tribute from the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)

Comrades,

Comrade Bains Speaking at Marx House, Clerkenwell, London

On the occasion of this first anniversary of his sad and untimely passing, we are gathered to mourn and to pay tribute to the life and work of our beloved comrade, Hardial Bains. In doing so, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our comrades in Canada, as well as in other countries, who will also be marking this occasion. Our thoughts are very deeply with them. It seems to us that this year has gone very quickly. Even now it is difficult to accept, to come to terms with, so great a loss and the deep sorrow which has gone with it.

We remember so well Comrade Bains' last message to us, not to be sad but to march on. We had no shadow of a doubt whatsoever even then that we all would march on. But who could have envisaged that in this first year without him such advances would be made, and with such calmness and confidence. Speaking about Canada and the Party he led, CPC(ML), who could have foreseen that the 7th Congress of CPC(ML), as well as the events leading up to it, would be crowned with such success and in such spirit; that the youth in Canada in particular would come forward with such force. We have been very proud to participate alongside our fraternal comrades in Canada in all these events over this past year. Four or five times our delegations have gone from Britain to participate in our comrades' events, delegations representing the Central Committee, delegations of Progressive Cultural Association from the fields of literature, music and film, old friends and comrades of Comrade Bains and his family, comrades from the African and Caribbean Progressive Study Group have been to some events, school and student youth comrades have been to participate in the youth conference which the comrades have held over there. As well as that, comrades from IPSG, from the Indian Workers Association (G.B.) went immediately after Comrade Bains' death to his funeral. So there have been virtually half a dozen visits with a whole number of comrades from here going. It seems to me that this is the epitome of our relationship, that when any of us has been in trouble, we stand shoulder to shoulder. You could say, how could we have done otherwise brought up in the proletarian internationalist traditions of joint work and close co-operation in which Comrade Bains and our parties have trained us. This in itself, it seems to me, is a tribute to the whole life and work and spirit and inspiration and organisation of Comrade Bains.

In our work here in Britain as well, and bearing in mind that our internationalism has always been based primarily on doing our own work in our own countries, the fact is that the first year without the invaluable guidance and assistance of Comrade Bains in person has seen the strengthening, however modest, of the focus of our work, our paper Workers Weekly, and the holding of a successful National Consultative Conference which prepares the conditions for our 3rd Congress. And, even if a small beginning, the youth in our circles, as well as attending the conference in Canada, some of them attended our National Consultative Conference, and as well as having discussions with the Party they have begun meeting together to make plans for organising themselves and the youth. So all these are very important advances happening in this first year since Comrade Bains died.

Comrade Bains always told us to look at the past through the eyes of the present in order to move into the future. With this in mind and looking back at the achievements over this past year, it seems to us that what greater tribute could there be to the stature of Comrade Bains, what greater testimony to his life's work as inspirer and organiser, than the deed and spirit over this past year of the Party he built and led, CPC(ML), and the other parties and organisations, such as ours, which he inspired and guided, what clearer proof that his work will be carried forward.

While still coming to terms with the void left by his passing, yet in his absence his stature and the importance of his achievements is, it seems to us, revealed even more clearly. We said at the time of his passing that Comrade Bains was our dearest friend, our mentor and our guide. A year of work without him in person has strengthened that feeling. At the time of his sad and untimely passing, we pointed out his leadership of the Necessity for Change Conference in 1967 from which our Party traces its origins. We highlighted the thesis he presented on behalf of the Canadian Party at the Coventry International Seminar in 1994 on the character of this period and the tasks of the communist and workers' movement, which created the conditions for us to produce our draft general line There Is A Way Out of the Crisis in that same year and later our Draft Programme for the Working Class. We mentioned his assistance and guidance in focusing our work around our paper and giving the fighting call to Stop Paying the Rich - Increase Investments in Social Programmes. Now, a year after his passing, he remains our mentor and guide. In fact, it seems to us that the importance, the profundity, of the concepts contained in the treasury of his works and remembered from the many discussions he had with us - such questions as those concerning conscious participation put forward at the time of The Internationalists and all manner of political, organisational, ideological, social, cultural and other concepts put forward over the years – the importance and profundity of these things, it seems to us, is revealed even more clearly in looking at this past year.

In our experience Comrade Bains was always preoccupied with inspiring, organising and building the collective, with releasing initiative, with empowering people at every level to take up their own destiny. He always saw himself primarily as a member of a collective, contributing every ounce of energy and talent to the work and strengthening of the collective and subordinating himself to the discipline of the collective. We remember that his co-operation and joint work with us was always based on exchange of experience. His guidance and selfless assistance was always on the basis of our own action and thoughts. He always said that if we did not do anything, why would he be interested to assist us. To our mind, this was the measure of the man, the reason why even in the pain and sadness of loss, yet still we draw strength from his life and work. I myself remember so clearly what Comrade Bains said when he last met me in person, knowing then that he might not have long to live. He said that one contributes all one can to the very best of one's ability right up to one's last breath. Then it is up to others, and to others who had not only his complete sympathy and concern, but his full confidence. The life and work of Comrade Bains, his every utterance, is, it seems to us, an inspiration to us all because they indicate that every communist and progressive person - be their talents or possibilities great or small - can make a contribution by putting the interests of the collective above all else and doing whatever they can to the best of their ability.

We are living, as Comrade Bains pointed out, at a defining moment in history and we face the greatest of challenges. The anti-social offensive against the people is intensifying; the assault on communism and on everything progressive is unprecedented, the whole move to go back to medievalism. And the events of the last days, the bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan by the US imperialists with the disgraceful support of Tony Blair, it seems to us, how more medieval could powers get in their approach to the problems of the peoples of the world. But, that we together – all our Parties, all our organisations, our workers, our youth, our women, our national minorities – all of us together accept this challenge and will meet it with confidence is clearly seen, it seems to us, in the achievements of this first year without Comrade Bains. While still coping with the pain and sadness of his loss, yet it becomes ever more clear the immensity of his accomplishment – primarily the building of the collective and the treasury of his work. Our greatest tribute to his memory, it seems to us, is to carry on this work. This first year shows clearly that we can do so with the greatest confidence, with unshakeable faith in the rightness and the ultimate victory of our cause.

In this year, we have marched on, all our Parties and organisations have marched on, and we will march on. The spirit of Comrade Bains and the work of Comrade Bains will live. They will live in the collectives which he built, which he created, in the energies, the initiatives which he released, above all in the collective. It is the work of these collectives, it seems to us, is the greatest testimony, the great legacy that Comrade Bains has left to us, and to carry on building and doing the work of these collectives is the greatest tribute which we can pay.

Thank you.

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Tribute from the Indian Progressive Study Group

Comrades and friends

One year has passed since that fateful day when our dearest comrade Hardial Bains passed away. It seems like yesterday and that pain, that shock, is still with many of us. It is very hard to come to terms with this great loss, but come to terms with it we must. For us, here in Britain, he was like a brother, a teacher, and such a dearest friend who one could rely upon in any situation, in any difficulties, and who was always available. He is no more in person but the institutions he established are still around. He lives in the work of these institutions and the work of these institutions is progressing.

Here, in Britain, he impressed upon us that there is a vital need to start a movement for enlightenment and he suggested that a Punjabi publication should be started so that a start could be made in this direction in the Punjabi community living here. He explained that it was very important to defend cultures and languages of all national minorities and fight for our rights in the context of fighting for the rights of all. In the beginning we were hesitant to start this publication because we lacked experience in this kind of work but Comrade Bains made us believe that if we worked hard it will not be too difficult. As a result Eh Din was started in December 1992. Comrade Bains was proven right and despite all difficulties Eh Din continued and it helped us a lot in organising various conferences in Britain for the progress of Punjabi language, on problems of South Asian people living abroad and on the issues of crisis of identity and other problems facing South Asian youth. We are convinced more than ever before that this work has to be advanced further. To contribute in this work will be our biggest tribute to the memory of our beloved Comrade Hardial Bains. And in this work he will always be with us in spirit, encouraging and guiding us through his exemplary and immortal contribution which he made for the cause of progress and the oppressed people throughout his entire political life. We shall March On the path he trail blazed.

Glory to the life and work of Comrade Hardial Bains!

Tribute from Indian Workers' Association (GB)

Dear comrades and friends,

Comrade Bains was our beloved comrade, friend and internationalist. He was the light of all our lives, the inspiration of many thousands of people world-wide.

With loving memory we remember our great comrade, Hardial Bains, Leader of the CPC(ML). He stood as one with all workers, women, national minorities and oppressed peoples in their struggle to affirm themselves. He was the true friend of the fighting people of the world. His life and work was such that he influenced not only thousands of communists, but also all different varieties of people's lives. Comrade Bains devoted his entire life to the cause of communism, for the emancipation of the working class, social and national liberation of the people of the world.

Comrade Hardial Bains was the "most outstanding patriot of India and the greatest son of the Punjabi nation in his time". I recalled the many trips he made to England to unite and inspire the Indian comrades and the community to oppose the Indian reactionary government.

He always gave his utmost attention to the question of unity. He always encouraged IWA (G.B.) to unite and build a strong association.

We in IWA (G.B.) have no doubt that history will regard Comrade Bains as we do, as the giant of the century, as one of the outstanding leaders of the working class and all humanity.

He will always live in our hearts.

Long live the memory of Comrade Hardial Bains!

Long live proletarian internationalism!

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Violence and Carnage in the Service of the British State

THE Omagh bombing on August 15 killed 28 people and maimed hundreds more. People have been asking almost in disbelief, who profits from it, whom does it serve, who promotes the atmosphere of tension and the acts which accompany this tension?

For the working class in Britain there can be only one answer as to where their anger should be directed. It is the British state which should be condemned.

The British state has long attempted to create the conditions for the division of the Irish people, as well as setting the English against the Irish, not to mention worker in this country against worker. It has done so in order to maintain capitalist rule in Britain as much as to ensure that it maintains control over Ireland, or as much of it as it can. When the violence of the British state has been answered with violence of the Irish people, it has always been quick to condemn the Irish, the "terrorists", and appear as the peacemaker, the statesmanlike, the humanitarian. Historically speaking, the internal development of the Irish people's struggle to assert their sovereignty within these conditions has given rise to splits in the movement around the question of the armed struggle.

In the present situation, however, it is to the credit of Sinn Fein that they have opened up the possibility of progress, of meaningful negotiations between the parties involved in order to bring peace to the north of Ireland. While the opportunity for resolution of the problem came into being, at the same time once more, the British state attempted to create an atmosphere of tension and sectarian conflict, alongside a series of acts of murder and mayhem which culminated in the terrible burning to death of the Quinn children in Ballymoney and the Omagh outrage itself.

In the atmosphere of anarchy and violence existing, whatever the crocodile tears of Tony Blair and his ministers and their hypocritical talk of peace, what cannot be ignored is that the level of British troops committed to the north of Ireland has been increased to as high as at any time in 30 years. It is also the case that in recent days Tony Blair has announced he will be recalling parliament, so that the whole machinery of government can bring in various repressive measures, under the pretext of combating terrorism. These will undoubtedly be used against all patriotic and progressive forces, not only in the north of Ireland but very significantly in Britain too.

The Irish people and the political organisations upholding their interests have taken the Good Friday Agreement, with all its flaws, to be a step towards achieving their aspirations of an end to British rule and an end to partition; in other words to open the way for lasting peace and stability in which sovereignty can be vested in the people themselves. But not so the British government. They and their agencies have been working might and main to cement its most backward aspects. Having deliberately created an atmosphere of tension and conflict they are now attempting to utilise the situation in order to drive into a corner and attack all the patriotic and progressive forces. It was also in this atmosphere that the government pushed through the Agreement, side-stepping any serious discussion of the fundamental principles of the sovereignty of the Irish people over their whole territory and their right of national self-determination, institutionalising British rule and the sectarian divisions resulting from it.

However, the sovereignty of the Irish people is not something which is negotiable. It is a quality which belongs to them by virtue of their being, is inviolable and inalienable. The struggle goes on in the context of the possibilities of the Irish to assert this sovereignty and for the British government to recognise it. The demand of the British working class remains the end of British rule over part of Ireland and an end to interference in the affairs of the Irish people, leaving them free to determine their own affairs, thereby being empowered to end a situation which has led only to tragedy upon tragedy over generations. This demand is in the interests of the English, Scottish and Welsh workers and other broad masses of the people, as well as in solidarity with Irish fellow workers, side by side with the Irish resident in Britain.

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EDITORIAL

The Dangerous World Situation and the Working Class

OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS, the world seems to have been rocked with a series of assaults on the people's humanity. The US imperialists launched their missile strikes against Afghanistan and Sudan, Tony Blair disgraced the country by his reactionary backing for these crimes, he has used the pretext of the Omagh bombing to launch an attack on the people's human rights and their right to determine their own affairs, and in the wake of the Asian crisis the Russian rouble crisis has combined with the political crisis to fuel fears of a world-wide recession. In other words, the world reactionary bourgeoisie and the financial oligarchy seem to be leading the world into a new period of barbarism.

These reactionary, parasitic and predatory forces are seen not only to have no solution to the crisis, but in their own interests are moving backwards to medievalism, to the destruction of the notion of a responsible society and applying the dictum that people should fend for themselves. Meanwhile they are tearing up the norms of international law, and stepping up their contention for control of markets, raw materials and strategic regions, trampling on the sovereignty of the peoples as they do so.

This is a very dangerous situation for the world's people. It is a situation which will not resolve itself if the working class and people remain passive in the face of the difficulties or succumb to the disorientation of the ideological offensive of the bourgeoisie which tells them to hand over their initiative to the professional politicians and confine their struggles to the most narrow concerns.

It is not the reactionary bourgeoisie but the working class which has the solution to the problems of society. As our Party proclaims, there is a way out of the crisis. This way out of the crisis revolves around the working class championing and fighting for the rights and interests of all which the bourgeoisie tramples in the mud, of the sovereignty of the peoples, of the claims of all on society by virtue of their humanity and of their objective conditions. As the bourgeoisie steps up its wrecking activities in society and drags it ever further backwards, the working class must emerge as the leader of society with its independent programme to take it forward to a modern socialist society, fit for the 21st century.

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Demonstrations at US Embassy

MANY outraged people have been demonstrating almost continuously outside the US Embassy in London's Grosvenor Square since the bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan by US imperialism on August 20.

Around 25 demonstrators gathered as soon as news reached London, denouncing the criminal US action.

Demonstrators protested outside the Embassy on the afternoon of August 22, denouncing the US attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan and demanding that the British government immediately end its support for such US actions. The demonstrators shouted slogans including: "US, Britain, terrorist states!", "US Embassy, terrorist base!", and "Hands off Sudan, hands off Afghanistan!". A delegation from the demonstrators tried to deliver a letter of protest to the Ambassador, but the official on duty refused to receive it. A spokesperson for the organisers of the demonstration declared: "This US attack is a direct violation of the UN Charter and all international law, and Blair's government has fully supported it." Activists and sympathisers of RCPB(ML) participated, and a hundred copies of the Party's statement condemning the US imperialist strikes were distributed.

IWA (G.B.) Condemns US Imperialist Attacks

The Indian Workers' Association (G.B.) issued the following press release, dated August 21, 1998. The Indian Workers' Association (G.B.) strongly condemns the barbaric attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan by US imperialism. The USA had no right whatsoever to act like a fascist power. The attacks cannot be justified in any way at all. We strongly condemn these attacks and ask all just and peace-loving people of the world to denounce them.

(Signed) A.S. Bains General Secretary

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COMMENTARY

Closure of Siemens Highlights Need for Change in the Direction of the National Economy

THE ANNOUNCEMENT that the German monopoly Siemens is to close its £1 billion microchip plant in the North East, with the loss of up to 1,100 jobs, comes just over one year after the plant was officially opened by the Queen. It had been accompanied with the euphoric announcement by the government that it was one of the most modern electronics factories in the world, and was creating a number of jobs in an area of high long-term unemployment.

Siemens is blaming the closure of the North Tyneside plant on the collapse of prices for memory chips which they say have fallen by 95% and "suicidal pricing" by Asian competitors helped by IMF aid, particularly to South Korea. Government ministers are saying that they are doing everything to find a new buyer. The government also claims that the closure was not caused by its economic policy, by high interest rates or the factor of the "strong pound" but "difficulties that the crisis in the Asian economy and the down turn in the semi-conductor market have caused". Commentators are praising Siemens for its "logical sacrifice" to protect its profits. Just how much these profits are can be seen by the fact that last year Siemens made profits of DM109m and has a turnover of DM100billion ($55 billion).

Clearly, what the Siemens closure exposes as much as anything is the theory of inward investment as the basis for the prosperity of the national economy and the wellbeing of the people. This theory fails firstly because the aim of the monopolies, like the European monopoly Siemens, is the making of maximum profits by "capturing the markets" in the "globalised economy" even if this means damaging production and the national economies of other countries, including countries such as those in Asia which are seriously in the grip of economic and financial crisis. It fails secondly because every economic policy of the Labour government is exacerbating the situation by facilitating the making of maximum profit, of paying the rich, of monopolisation, and is not even interested in building up the national economy. It is a policy of: export globally, attract inward investment, move capital from here to there. One of New Labour's first acts was putting the Bank of England directly into the control of the financial oligarchy. The "strong pound" which the Bank of England has overseen with its increase in interest rates to the financial oligarchy is an incentive to parasitic capital and damaging to the national economy. This is a conundrum the government is unable to resolve.

The facts are irrefutable. The opening of the Siemens plant, with investment of over £1 billion and with £50 million of grants taken from taxes on the people, was far from being a "boost" to the North East. Monopolies such as Siemens have seen that RAM chips, which need relatively little Research and Development investment as compared with processors, are an area where maximum profits can be made. So all the monopolies go for them, investing in plants which provide the most favourable conditions to make such profits. Within one year of the plant in the North East opening, the situation has produced a glut, a crisis of overproduction, and material and human resources are destroyed. This is one more example showing that the making of maximum capitalist profit is the most narrow base for the economy and that capitalism is incapable of uninterrupted extended reproduction.

The Labour government is extremely sympathetic to the plight of the financial oligarchy and its falling rate of profit. Its policies are geared to serving the rich in the conditions of this crisis, to putting the whole of the assets of the country, both human and material, in the service of the monopolies. These neo-liberal policies, policies of privatisation, public-private partnership, inward investment, competing in the global economy, building a stakeholder society, are further adding to and reflect the sharpening of the economic crisis of capitalism world-wide. This crisis is not only leading to economic catastrophes which are having serious consequences for the people in terms of plant closures and mass lay-offs but is also contributing to the increased tension and sharpening contradictions between the various trading blocs and imperialist powers.

The Labour Party is a party of the bourgeoisie masquerading as a people's party. It has the mission of duping the workers, creating illusions about capitalism and the way everything in the country is put in the service of the rich, to try and get the workers behind their employers in competing in the global market and stop the workers going forward to socialism. At the same time, some of the most damaging illusions for the workers are coming from those that are trying to get them to accept that what is required is simply a change in government policy without workers taking up their own alternative programme for the organisation of the economy. So they are telling workers that they should simply beg that the investments of these monopolies are not withdrawn and moved elsewhere, or that government hands over more subsidies, providing the workers accept their place in the scheme of things.

The workers of the North East and other parts of Britain should reject the policies of New Labour. But the workers should also reject all the illusions that are being peddled about what is causing the crisis. For the working class movement to make headway, the workers must be able to expose such illusions themselves.

Once the workers constitute themselves as the nation, put the assets of the nation at their own disposal, which is to say expropriate the expropriators, and the disposal of society as a whole, they can begin to build socialism. Workers must realise that the raging fire of the capitalist crisis upon which the Labour Party is pouring petrol with its policies will only get put out if those who make their billions from lighting bonfires are stopped from doing so. The working class movement must fight for a change in the direction of the national economy right now as part of its own programme and plan of action to accomplish this. It must call for a moratorium on payments to the financial oligarchy and demand increased investments in the social programmes and everything which will meet the needs of the people.

This movement, this fight, will move irresistibly towards socialism and the collective ownership of the means of production, resolving the contradiction between the social character of production and the private appropriation of the fruits of production, and leading to a planned economy under the control of the working class and people and for their benefit.

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FOR YOUR REFERENCE

The Collapse of the Rouble

RUSSIA'S ROUBLE plunged more than 40 percent against the German mark on August 26. According to news agency reports, the bewildered Russian central bank declared it could no longer afford to intervene to support the battered currency. As a growing sense of panic spread among Russians, acting Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin flew off suddenly to the Ukraine where he met Michel Camdessus, managing director of the IMF, the main contributor to a $22.6 billion loan bailout package last month. The Russian government dismissed rumours sweeping US financial markets, according to agency reports, that Yeltsin might be forced to step down. It is clear, however, that the political crisis is deepening.

This deepening crisis led to declines in the European financial and stock markets, reflecting the knock-on effect of the Russian crisis and the defaulting on the Russian debt. Russia has declared a 90-day moratorium on some of its foreign debt repayments. The Russian central bank was unable to set an official rouble-dollar rate as the crisis hit. Meanwhile, Russian people have been queueing to desperately withdraw their money from the banks.

On August 23, Boris Yeltsin had summoned Viktor Chernomyrdin, his former prime minister, to take over from the four-month-old cabinet of Sergei Kiriyenko, saying Russia needed a "heavyweight" at the helm. But it became clear that Chernomyrdin had no coherent plan and came up with no concrete decisions. Gennady Zyuganov, of the Russian Communist Party which has a dominant position in the parliament, said that Chernomyrdin's course was dictated by the West.

The US administration meanwhile made threatening statements, and a White House spokesman said, "Now more than ever it's critical that they get their fiscal house in order and establish policies on the rouble, on government debt and the banking system that will lead Russia back to financial stability." The Treasury Department here in Britain said it was closely monitoring the Russian crisis and was in contact with other members of the G7 group of industrialised countries. Bill Clinton himself is scheduled to travel to Russia next week in the midst of this deep financial crisis. He is expected to be joined by Deputy US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, the administration's top trouble-shooter when it comes to problems on the international financial scene, according to the agency reports. However, the German finance minister, Theo Waigel, appeared to be speaking for the European powers in the G7 group when he said, as reported, that it was up to Russia to solve its own problems and not the Group of Seven, the IMF or the European Union. Clearly the contradictions and turmoil within the big powers of the G8 (the G7 and Russia) are set to intensify.

According to many financial analysts, the "highly valued" western stock markets are all that is preventing the now chronic and disastrous Asian crisis from tipping over into worldwide recession. There is a real fear that these stock markets too may face collapse.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A view of selling Workers' Weekly post-National Consultative Conference

Dear Workers' Weekly,

The basic organisation to which I belong decided it would be good to share the experience of one selling team with other readers of the newspaper. So I am sending you the following extract from a recent report submitted to the collective on this experience. It reads:

On this reasonably warm day, with the sun making an appearance, it felt like a good day for the work ahead. We were confident that we had something special for the people. "There is nothing else like it," I interjected between people shuffling past and window shopping, "Workers' Weekly, get your copy", "would you like a paper", "hear a new perspective", "Workers' Weekly, from the workers angle", "hear what the revolutionaries are saying," etc. It was the first time that I felt so comfortable, confidant in my work of disseminating Workers' Weekly having been ideologically extra-armed by our National Consultative Conference.

Just over 30 papers were sold in under two hours. We had a number of fruitful discussions with a good cross section of workers, families, shoppers and passers-by both young and old, women and men.

In summarising this experience, we concluded that the comparative success of this day was due to a number of factors, the most important being a proactive, friendly approach to the people, non-aggressive. Having made good sales and received encouraging comments the previous week about how it is important that we should be here to carry on this work, we were from the start in a good mental state to carry on this work. We genuinely responded equally to those who took the paper along with those who did not. The benefit of this was that some people having walked past and seen our approach and heard our selling pitch returned to either buy a paper, discuss something, or just express support. Another factor was that we were still on a high from our very successful conference; this was the second selling session in this area of South London since the NCC and a good number of people responded in kind in very polite and friendly terms. Not all the discussions we had lead to a sale of the paper but it presented an opportunity to get some of our views across and hear the views of some of the people. People were encouraged to give their view, come and talk to us again after reading the paper, come to the shop, write to or email us and several people said they would.

South London Activist

Condemn the Missile Strikes!

Dear Workers' Weekly,

On Saturday, August 22, activists from our Branch of the Party, among others, participated in a demonstration which was held outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. This was one of the demonstrations organised in immediate response to the bombings by the US imperialists of Sudan and Afghanistan. Everybody there shared the sense of outrage at the blatant and aggression of the US as it openly went against all the norms of international law and justice. And why? Allegedly to defend American interests claiming they are rooting out terrorism. This is the country which claims to represent democracy and yet they are flagrantly attacking the rights of sovereign states! What is unconscionable is that the British government has supported the US in these acts of aggression. What is this but nothing less than state terrorism!

Everyone was agreed at this demonstration that these acts must be condemned.

END STATE TERRORISM!

DOWN WITH THE US AGGRESSION AGAINST SUDAN AND AFGHANISTAN!

South London Branch of RCPB(ML)

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NEWS IN BRIEF

PFI Funding in Scotland

Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar approved plans on August 21 for a £181 million development for the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

The contract was awarded to a consortium called Consort Healthcare, which will design, build, finance and operate the new 860-bed hospital on a greenfield site at Little France in the south-east of Edinburgh. The consortium will own the hospital, which will then by rented back to the NHS. It will provide the largest acute health-care facilities not only in Scotland but in Britain.

Public sector union UNISON said that the Scottish Secretary had "sunk a stake in the heart of Scotland's NHS".

Possible Glaxo and SKB Merger Threatens 10,000 Jobs

Up to 10,000 jobs could be under threat after City analysts said a week ago that the £105 billion merger between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham could go ahead after all. The deal, which would create the world's third largest company, was called off by SKB earlier this year over insoluble contradictions about who would be the dominant force in the merger. However, both companies have since been hit by the Asian crisis and other factors, causing a fall in profits, and the drive towards monopolisation in the conditions of the crisis is once more proving irresistible.

Engineering Employers Criticise Government Indifference

The Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF), which represents 5,600 of Britain's largest engineering and manufacturing companies, has said it was surprised by an undercurrent of government indifference to industrial policy which was a "fatal flaw" in the New Labour project. In its quarterly survey, the EEF warned earlier this week of a recession and said the government's decision to give interest rate-setting autonomy to the Bank of England while "refusing to raise taxes" had created the "double headache" of a "buoyant service sector" and a recession-hit manufacturing sector.

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BP and Amoco

IT has recently been announced that one of Britain's largest monopolies British Petroleum and the US monopoly Amoco have announced plans for a £67 billion "merger" that will create Britain's biggest monopoly company and is being described as the "world's biggest industrial merger". The proposed merger will actually involve a take-over of Amoco by BP, and will make the new company one of the top three oil producers in the world and is aimed to increase profits by at least $2 billion by the end of 2000. It is estimated that the new company will be the biggest producer of oil and natural gas in the US and will have a greater output of oil than the UK and most OPEC members. It will also be the world's second biggest producer of polypropylene and other petrochemical products and one of the world's leading producers of PTA, the raw material for polyester and plastic.

BP already has an annual turnover of £43 billion, has 17,900 service stations around the world and employs some 56,450 people, over 17,000 in Britain. It is estimated that over 6000 people will now lose their jobs as a result of the merger, although it is not yet clear how many job losses will occur in Britain.

The proposed creation of a new monopoly reflects the increasing monopolisation that exists not only in the oil industry but also in all areas of the economy. It is the great monopolies that dominate the economy not just of Britain but also stretch their tentacles throughout the world. The new monopoly is expected to be active in 70 countries throughout the world including newly exploited areas such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam.

The proposed take-over also reflects the fact that cut-throat competition and the drive to make maximum capitalist profits remain the main characteristics of the monopolies at all times. As the chief executive of BP stated, "We want to be number one or two in everything we do." The only concern of the monopolies is domination of the global market. BP aims to be in a stronger position to capture new sources of oil and gas throughout the world, to dominate the global market in certain products and to be in a position to rationalise its activities, so as to survive the continuing drop in oil prices on the commodity markets. The monopolies have no concern for the livelihoods of thousands of workers and their families. The pursuit of maximum profits requires the pushing down of wages and living conditions to the lowest level and the loss of thousands of jobs.

The increasing monopolisation of the economy and the life of the country brings no benefits to the masses of the people – quite the contrary, despite the media propaganda that "increased competition" will bring down petrol prices. Rather, it underlines the need for a radical rupture in society and for the working class and people to take control of the economy so that production can be planned in the interests of the majority not for the profits of the few.

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Indian Workers Association (GB) Holds AGM

THE Indian Workers Association (Great Britain) held its annual general meeting in Coventry on June 21. Delegates attended from branches in Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Leicester, East London, West London, Gravesend and other cities.

The general secretary's report reviewed the work of IWA(GB) over the past year and set out the programme for the coming period. Among other posts, Ajmer S. Bains was re-elected as general secretary, Kewal S. Purewal as national president and Rashpal S. Dosanj as national organiser. Among resolutions passed were a resolution paying tribute to the memory of Hardial Bains, late leader of CPC(ML) and a firm friend of IWA(GB) over many years, a resolution condemning the Labour government for its anti-people policies in its first year of office, a resolution demanding anti-racist legislation which was more than cosmetic and a resolution expressing concern about the nuclear tests of the Indian government coupled with condemnation of the hypocrisy of the big nuclear powers in bringing sanctions, condemning the tests, etc.

A guest speaker from the Birmingham-based Troops Out Movement was warmly received and spoke of the need to continue to demand that Britain withdraw from the six north-eastern counties of Ireland. A warm welcome was also to extended to a guest speaker from West Midlands Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who spoke movingly of the continuing struggle of the Palestinian people. The final speaker was Chris Coleman on behalf of RCPB(ML). He pointed out that IWA(GB) has distinguished itself over many years by its firm stand against the racism coming principally from the British state itself, and by standing up militantly for the interests of the Indian community. But perhaps most importantly, IWA(GB) has always considered itself and the Indian workers resident in Britain as an integral part of the working class in whose struggles they should play a full and equal part. At this time when the working class is under such attack and is looking for a way forward, such an organisation as IWA(GB), with its political experience and consciousness, can make a significant contribution. He concluded by expressing the conviction that IWA(GB) would continue its work with honour, and that the longstanding cooperation between IWA(GB) and RCPB(ML) would continue also.

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Korea Friendship Bulletin Celebrates 50th Anniversary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

THE SEPTEMBER issue of the Korea Friendship Bulletin, the Bulletin of the Korea Friendship & Solidarity Campaign (KFSC), which has just come off the press, carries a lead article, "50th Anniversary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea – A celebration of Revolution, Independence and Development". We reprint the article below.

September 9 this year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by the late President Kim Il Sung.

The DPRK arose out of the revolutionary traditions of the Korean people's armed struggle against the brutal Japanese colonial occupation and the progressive social reforms carried out in the north of Korea in the period after 1945. However, just two years after its founding, the infant republic was plunged into a cruel war provoked by the United States, which had occupied the south of Korea and rigged up a puppet regime, mainly based on collaborators with the Japanese.

In the three years of war, the Korean people, assisted by the Chinese People's Volunteers, fought the aggressive forces of imperialism – which included a substantial British contingent – to a standstill.

But the war had exacted a terrible price. There were millions of civilian casualties and the whole of north Korea had been destroyed in the most massive and sustained bombing that history had yet witnessed. In the following years, the people, under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea, rebuilt their country and developed a relatively advanced socialist state, with a strong industrial foundation and powerful defence forces.

As it developed, the DPRK began to play an increasingly prominent international role in both the non-aligned and socialist movements. Following the collapse of socialism in the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe, the Workers' Party of Korea drafted the Pyongyang Declaration, "Let Us Defend and Advance the Cause of Socialism", which acted as a rallying point for many communist and other progressive political parties in the midst of a confusing situation.

In recent years, however, the DPRK has been faced with complex problems, owing to the long imperialist blockade, the collapse of trading arrangements with the socialist bloc and a succession of unprecedented floods and other natural disasters.

Faced with this new trial, the Korean people have summoned up their traditional fortitude and are fighting their way through on the basis of self-reliance, supplemented by assistance from their friends and the international community in general.

The Korean people are uniting as one around their present-day leader, General Secretary Kim Jong Il, just as they did around President Kim Il Sung in the past.

In the midst of adversity, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK is a great festival, not only for the Korean people, but also for their friends and all progressive people around the world.

The KFSC joins in sending best wishes to the Korean people and their leadership for this momentous anniversary. We wish them well in their march to victory.

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