Workers' Weekly V.28 No.26

The government's new Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act was rushed through Parliament in two days on September 2 and 3 in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing. This Act is nothing short of a scandalous assault on the rights of people in Ireland, in Britain and in other countries.

The Act gives the courts powers to convict in England and Wales, and in Scotland, as well as in the north of Ireland, those who are deemed to be members of an organisation, proscribed solely by decree of a government minister, simply on the uncorroborated word of a police officer above the rank of superintendent combined with the refusal of the suspect to divulge all information relating to the activity of that organisation. It allows for the seizure of the finances and property deemed to be used for the purposes of that proscribed organisation from anyone so convicted. The Act also gives the courts powers to convict persons for what is termed "conspiracy" to commit acts or the happening of some other event which occurs outside the United Kingdom and which "constitutes an offence under the law in force in that country or territory". Ministers under criticism have been at pains to emphasise that such measures are linked with "safeguards" such as that stipulating that such offences abroad must be offences "triable" in the United Kingdom. But with virtually unlimited powers in place to restrict and ban protests, and other activities, not to speak of all manner of emergency provisions lurking in the background, what offences are not "triable" in the United Kingdom?

The Act has been described by many commentators as the most draconian piece of legislation passed by a British government since the war. Government spokespersons have not objected to this view. Furthermore, it is added to such Acts as the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act which the government of the day can just frame and get parliament to rubber stamp. Such Acts add to the armoury of the state to criminalise the people's political struggles and convict whomsoever it wishes, underlining that the British state recognises no right of the people as sacrosanct and inviolable.

The Act has been severely criticised, especially in the House of Lords, for its haste in drafting, its arbitrariness, and what has been described as its "tagging on" of unsound measures to combat support for various activities occurring outside the territory of the United Kingdom. It has been widely predicted that it will lead to miscarriages of justice. It is, however, even far more deeply and fundamentally flawed than all of these objections suggest. It is not simply bad and unthought-through legislation. It is a deliberate attempt to attack and isolate all the patriotic and progressive forces not only in Ireland but in Britain and in other countries as well. It is so arbitrary as to cast aside even those principles of civil rights developed when the bourgeoisie came into the ascendancy, including the presumption of innocence until proved guilty and the obligation for the state to prove its case through facts. It is medieval in character and designed to arm the government, under the pretext of combating terrorism, with repressive powers for use against all opposition as it steps up its anti-social offensive against the people on behalf of the financial oligarchy at home and abroad.

This new Act is not legislation to deal with some small, isolated "terrorist groups" in Ireland or anywhere else. It is not unacceptable merely because of its unsoundness. It is part of a major assault on the rights of the people at home and abroad and of an attempt to turn the clock backwards towards medievalism. It must be condemned and opposed as such.

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Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act:

Especially under New Labour, the Fight in Defence of Rights Must Go On

IT IS IMPORTANT that this latest legislation, the "Terrorism" Act, which Tony Blair brought back parliament to enact, is seen in the context of the Labour government's overall policy.

Tony Blair was brought to power in order to carry through the programme of the rich in circumstances where the Tories were no longer able, to step up the anti-social offensive against the people, and to strive to make Britain number one in the globalised economy, no matter what the consequences for the people and in a situation where all the big powers are colluding and contending to impose their will, their "free market" economy, political pluralism and human rights based on private property on the peoples of the whole world in violation of all the previously accepted international norms. Faced with deepening crisis at home and abroad, fearing rising opposition not only to its policies but to the entire system of capitalism and imperialism from the people in Britain, in Ireland and in various places throughout the world, as well as solidarity between them, the government sees the need on behalf of the monopolies whose bidding it carries out to arm itself against various eventualities. Thus the disquiet caused by Omagh provided the opportunity. Not for the first time, as Karl Marx pointed out last century, Ireland is being used as the base for reaction in Britain.

The working class of England, Wales and Scotland, shoulder to shoulder with their class sisters and brothers in Ireland, must oppose and condemn such reaction. In asserting their own rights, the working class of England, Scotland and Wales must build the unity of all democratic people in defence of the rights of all against such attacks on them as the Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act. This must be carried out in the context of opposition to the intensification of the anti-social offensive by the Blair government.

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NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE

The Role and Work of the Party at the Present Time

The following outlines the points made in the paper on the role and work of RCPB(ML) at the present time, presented to the National Consultative Conference on its second day, July 19, by a member of the Central Committee.

THE SPEAKER pointed out that at any time it is necessary to answer the question as to what the role of the Party is, as well as what the cutting edge of the Party's work is. The experience of the Party over the four years since the Coventry International Seminar is very important in this respect. There has been a struggle throughout this time on the organisational front to place the basic organisations at the centre of life, to transform the Party's decisions and its line into life through the basic organisations. There has throughout been a cutting edge to this work. This is an issue of giving content at any time to the general position that the Party is the general staff of the working class, that it must direct the working class and solve its problems in its battles with the bourgeoisie. It must do this because the bourgeoisie is blocking the way to progress and because it is the working class which must lead the way in opening this path to progress and to a new socialist society, a society fit for human beings, and that furthermore the working class has to rally all of the progressive forces around it. Added to this it is clear from the general line of the Party that the general content of the work for this period is to unite all of the progressive forces and the broad masses of the people in a "storm against the cuts". And furthermore the Party has put forward the slogan "Stop Paying the Rich, Increase Investments in Social Programmes" as the rallying cry for this programme.

In the course of this work, the speaker said, of carrying out this programme and in this context creating the conditions for all communists, for progressive and democratic forces to come together to build a mass Communist Party, the Party has built and strengthened itself and in this regard has set for itself as the cutting edge of its work the task to improve the content and extend the readership of Workers' Weekly. The cutting edge task has as its purpose to facilitate the aim of creating the subjective conditions for revolution at this stage of its work.

THE CLASS STRUGGLE

The speaker went on to point out that the collective consciousness of the working class and people is raised through the participation in the class struggle. This is where the focus of the struggle is. The basic organisations grapple with this problem and the work has to go on to develop this struggle. Without this work going on it is not possible to talk about what the question of improving the content, extending the readership of Worker's Weekly is. In other words, this programme of RCPB(ML) is not simply a question for the staff of the paper, the editorial board. It is a question for the Party.

The issue is that the newspaper is a tool in the class struggle, it is a tool in the task that history has set for the class and the Party in bringing about this storm in uniting the forces and in creating the conditions for a mass Communist Party. We grapple with this issue right now by saying that the militants and sympathisers of the Party have to address the work to sell, organise to discuss and to write for the newspaper.

The struggles against the anti-social offensive will only meet with success if the working class and its allies are mobilised to fight for their rights. For the working class and the people to become a material force organised behind the common aim of defeating the anti-social offensive and to implement the programme of "Stop Paying the Rich, Increase Investments in Social Programmes", what is needed is an instrument to imbue the class with this revolutionary consciousness. First and foremost, this instrument is the Party and our position on the paper is the Leninist position, that it is the scaffolding around which the Party is built. That is why this important programme is being put forward to improve the content and extend the readership of the newspaper. It corresponds to the needs of the movement. When the paper addresses improving the content, the questions of reports on the movement, the question of political and economic exposures and the question of news analysis as well as theoretical and ideological articles, then it has the needs of the movement as well as the needs of the communists at the centre of consideration.

The speaker continued that the Party had summed up this function of Workers' Weekly by saying that it is an instrument in the hands of the working class whereby it provides itself with consciousness and organisation. The cutting edge of the task of improving the content and extending the readership itself is to transform the newspaper into just such an instrument whereby the paper becomes extremely political and it is marked by this quality of being political, taking stands and putting forward the demands of the class and giving calls to the class and democratic forces.

COMBATING PRESSURES

The speaker dealt with the combating of various pressures to take the content away from the task in hand of solving the problems of advancing the movement of the proletariat for its emancipation which is the necessary condition for improving the content. And when it comes to extending the readership this cannot be simply a question of distribution. The speaker went on to illustrate that the task of extending the readership has to be one of dissemination as opposed to just distribution. In other words, it is a task which involves both consciousness and organisation. The work of improving the content and extending the readership is in fact all-sided work which involves in its entirety all the organisations of the Party. The speaker went on to explain that this task cannot be considered as an add-on to the work of the organisations of the Party but it is the work which in fact mediates and gives coherence to all the work of the basic organisations. In terms of all the problems which the comrades have to solve, this central task of improving the content, extending the readership of the paper is the one which is always at the focus of the discussions.

As the programme developed, it was first put forward in the pages of Workers' Weekly in February 1996. It then was spelled out in a keynote article of the New Year of 1997. This elaborated that the organising work of the Party actually involves organising workers, women, youth and other concerned sections of the people to write for, discuss and disseminate Workers' Weekly. To be effective therefore, the Party organisations must address what are the problems in the work at their level in implementing the tasks which the Party has set. This might only be just at the level of formulating what the problem is they face. In the experience of the Party, this is a crucial discussion to address, formulating what are the problems not only in the movement but in the implementation of the line of the Party. So when it comes to the newspaper, the Party organisations have a duty to give their opinions, not primarily in terms of some improvements which they may think the paper should have or criticisms of how the paper is going but actually in depth on their views on the matters in hand so they formulate their stands, they go out with the paper to elicit the views of the broad masses and give impetus to the programme of improving the content and extending the readership in that way. The speaker elaborated on such aspects of the newspaper as its becoming a force in the communist and working class movement, and its role in waging ideological struggle.

So this is the focus of the Party's work at the present time, he said. The Party does its utmost to ensure that the whole weight of its organisation is put behind this work, the cutting edge work to Improve the Content, Extend the Readership.

The speaker then went on to elaborate a number of other points about the work of the Party at the present time. For example, he dwelt on the question of upholding democratic centralism in the context of bringing the full role of a modern communist party into play.

THE STAGE OF THE WORK

The speaker then went on to address the issue that arises now of how the work has gone, what stage it has reached and what is the programme of work that is necessary to be carried on from here on the basis of these discussions and the work that has been carried on so far. Should a goal be put on the work of this stage? Should a new task be set to take the Party into the new millennium? The work to elaborate the programme Stop Paying the Rich in the conditions of New Labour in power is what the Party is addressing. We had our analysis of the present situation, the question of the implementation of the line of the Party, the implementation and elaboration of the Draft Programme for the Working Class. What forces should be addressed to take this up? Crucially what is the stage of the cutting edge work of the Party to improve the content and extend the readership? What is necessary to consolidate the success of this work?

But there are definite pointers, he said, that suggest that the line of march should be continued along the present perspective. In other words, that the line of march which could be defined up to now as being "as narrow as an arrow in flight" – in other words that there has been a struggle to not divert from the cutting edge work of the Party – this work be continued and assessed when it has reached a successful conclusion. Now a successful conclusion, of course, cannot be final. But you look at the newspaper and you assess how it is fulfilling its role and the whole role of the Party in implementing that programme. In other words, the focus, it suggests, should remain on Improving the Content, Extending the Readership and elaborating the programme for the class, and continuing to insist on the living, vital and indispensable link between the two. This work provides the Party with its communist quality, and without this work at this stage it would not have this quality. In other words, this work is achieving success, but this success has to be consolidated, it has to be irreversible. Both consciousness and organisation are necessary in terms of the Party and in terms of the class and the organic link between the two. So the work must be carried on to a stage where the seal can be put on this work, when the whole Party can say that this work can never be undone, and views with pride its newspaper and regards it as an asset which is its most prized possession.

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Hard on the Heels of Siemens Closure: the Closure of Fujitsu

ON SEPTEMBER 4, the Japanese monopoly Futjitsu announced that it was ceasing production at its microchip factory at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in the North East and closing the plant in December with a loss of 570 jobs. Fujitsu's announcement comes only weeks after the German monopoly Siemens decided to close its North Tyneside microchip plant with a loss of 1,100 jobs. A statement released by Fujitsu gave the reason for the closure as the "state of the memory market internationally". It was reported that the closure was because of the collapse in semi-conductor prices and losses caused by the Asian financial crisis and that Fujitsu's pre-tax global profits had fallen from £647 million to £470 million.

Picture of Fujitsu Factory

It is reported that Tony Blair, in whose parliamentary constituency Fujitsu is situated, is proposing a face to face to meeting with Futjitsu management and staff. In the light of other closures such as the closure of Grove Worldwide Cranes at Sunderland with a loss of 670 jobs the government has announced £100 million "regeneration money" for the Northern Region over the next three years to "attract more inward investment". But once again, just as with the closure of Siemens, the closure of the Fujitsu plant in the North East exposes the theory of "inward investment" as the basis for the prosperity of the national economy and the well being of the people.

What it shows is that such "inward investment" is not to "provide jobs", or to gear production to develop a national economy that meets the needs of the people but to gear production to the making of the maximum capitalist profits. Monopolies such as Fujitsu and Siemens invested in the North East of England as one area which provided the most favourable conditions to make such profits. This situation, within a few years since Fujitsu opened its plant in 1991, has produced a crisis of overproduction in microchips. These companies are now destroying the material and human resources to protect their huge profits and wait for an upturn in this market, or look for the next opportunity to make maximum profits in some other area. This exposes the narrow base for the economy created by the capitalist drive for maximum profit and shows how capitalism is incapable of uninterrupted extended reproduction.

Under these conditions, both the previous Conservative government and the present Labour government have geared their policies towards putting the whole of the assets of the country, both human and material, in the service of such monopolies. The policies of the present New Labour government, their neo-liberal policies, policies of privatisation, public private partnership, inward investment, competing in the global economy and building a stakeholder society, are further adding to and reflect the sharpening of this crisis of capitalism world wide. This crisis is not only leading to economic catastrophes which have such serious consequences for the people in terms of these plant closures but are also contributing to the increased tension and sharpening of contradictions between the various trading blocs world wide.

It is important that the workers reject the government's claim that such "inward investment" and "getting behind the employer in the global economy" holds the key to solving the problem of creating jobs and economic prosperity in the North East or any other part of Britain. They must reject the lie of the opposition parties and others that what is required is simply a change in government policy, thereby creating illusions about capitalism and the way the whole of society is being put in the service of the financial oligarchy.

Only by the working class movement taking up its own independent programme for the organisation of the economy can society find a solution. The working class movement must take its first step by calling for a moratorium on debt payments to the financial oligarchy and by demanding increased investments in social programmes and everything which will meet the needs of the people.

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Picture of 50th Anniversary Mass demonstration

50th Anniversary of the DPRK

SEPTEMBER 9 marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. On this occasion, Workers' Weekly congratulates the Korean people, their great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il and the Workers' Party of Korea.

The DPRK was founded following the victory of Korea's liberation under the great leadership of Kim Il Sung. For over twenty years, he organised and led the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle in the most difficult conditions and liberated the country and nation. This opened a new era of prosperity for the country. However, the US imperialists attempted to take over the Korean peninsula as a bulwark against communism. They too were defeated, and although they divided the Korean nation, they were deprived of the entire territory of Korea. Instead of withdrawing their troops from the southern part of the country and permitting the Korean people to sort out their own affairs themselves, the US imperialists declared the "two Koreas" policy, established a fascist regime in the south, and filled the south with nuclear weapons and troops. Since that time, they have worked day and night to realise their dream of taking over Korea. Britain too, under a Labour government, committed troops to attempting to crush the DPRK during the 1950-3 war, and to this day has not established diplomatic relations with north Korea.

President Kim Il Sung devoted the most strenuous efforts to the reunification of the country on a principled and peaceful basis, ensuring a new life for the people of the DPRK. This is the legacy inherited and pursued by Kim Jong Il, the great leader of the Korean people today.

Picture of Platform at the military parade and demonstration

On September 5, four days before the 50th anniversary, the 10th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) re-elected Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and Supreme Leader of the People's Army, as Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and took several other important decisions. The Korean Central News Agency reports that the session of the SPA also set up a new structure and system of the state and elected its leading organs in line with the requirements of the revolution.

Articles in the Korean press to mark the occasion have dealt with the leadership provided by Comrade Kim Jong Il to build an invincible socialist government. They point out that Kim Jong Il has ensured that the ideas and guidance of President Kim Il Sung on building the government are thoroughly applied.

The celebrations on September 9 to mark the country's 50th anniversary, held nation-wide, included a grand military parade and mass demonstration, a mass gymnastic display, an evening gala and torchlight procession of Pyongyang youth and students, congratulatory meetings and art performances.

At the military parade and mass demonstration which took place at the Kim Il Sung Square in the capital Pyongyang, the great leader Kim Jong Il occupied the central position on the platform.

Kim Yong Chun, chief of the general staff of the Korean People's Army, made a congratulatory address. He said that the military parade and mass demonstration marking the 50th anniversary of the DPRK at the significant time of having re-elected Kim Jong Il as Chairman of the National Defence Commission demonstrated the unshakeable faith and will of the army and the people to glorify President Kim Il Sung's enduring feats in state building and show the great revolutionary traits of the society rallied as one.

Workers' Weekly wishes the Korean people great success in their work to build socialism and reunify the country independently and peacefully under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea and government headed by Kim Jong Il.

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Letter of Greetings from the Central Committee of RCPB(ML) to Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, on the 50th Anniversary of the DPRK

September 9, 1998 (Juche 87)

Kim Jong Il

General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea

Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Supreme Commander of the People's Army

Pyongyang

Dear Comrade Kim Jong Il,

On the momentous and joyous occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea we should like to send to you, to the Party and to the entire Korean people our warmest and most heartfelt congratulations and good wishes.

The founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on September 9, 1948 (Juche 37) was a great victory not only for the Korean people but for the struggling and oppressed people of the whole world. Under the great leadership of Kim Il Sung, following liberation from cruel Japanese imperialist rule, the founding of the DPRK signalled that for the first time in their long history the Korean people had asserted their independence and freedom from domination by one or other of the big powers. This was achieved in the face of the hostile refusal of the United States to honour the post-war agreements to withdraw its troops from the south and with its imposition of a Japanese collaborator regime in that part of Korea. Fifty years of the DPRK have been 50 glorious years of defence of independence and of the socialist system chosen by the people, and of unstinting struggle to reunify the homeland. These years have seen the brutal aggression of 1950-53 by the imperialist powers, led by the US imperialists, which decimated the people and devastated the country from end to end. They have seen since then non-stop blockades and armed provocations by the US imperialists and their south Korean puppets and refusal to conclude a peace and honour the agreements made regarding progress to reunification, which continue up to this very day. But the DPRK, under the great leadership of Kim Il Sung and now yourself and guided by the Juche idea, have never wavered, including now faced with the results of natural disasters themselves exacerbated by the blockade and the division of the country.

In today's world the imperialist powers stop at nothing, cast aside all established international norms, in their efforts to impose on the peoples of the world their "free market" economy, political pluralism and concept of human rights based on private property. They are waging an unprecedented assault not only on socialism and communism but on everything progressive, attempting to turn the clock backwards to medieval ways. That the DPRK continues to refuse to bow the knee to such unrelenting pressures is both a great inspiration and an immense contribution to the struggles of the peoples of the world against imperialism, for their national and social rights and freedoms.

The cause in which the DPRK takes so heroic a stand is the cause of all progressive humanity, the cause of the independence and sovereignty of the people, the cause of socialism which is the future of humankind. On this historic day we are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in this cause. We offer again our warmest congratulations and best wishes for the future.

With warm fraternal regards.

Chris Coleman

on behalf of the Central Committee RCPB(ML)

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Letter of Congratulations from the Central Committee of RCPB(ML) to Comrade Kim Jong Il on His Re-election as Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK

September 7, 1998 (Juche 87)

Kim Jong Il

Pyongyang

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Dear Comrade Kim Jong Il,

It is with great joy that we have received the news of your re-election as Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. May I, on behalf of our Central Committee and our entire Party, as well as of all the well-wishers of People's Korea in our circles, send to you our warmest congratulations and good wishes.

Under your wise leadership, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has weathered and continues to weather some of the greatest storms in the history of the Korean people. Since the sad and unexpected passing of the great leader, Kim Il Sung, four years ago, it has faced the most extreme pressures and provocations of imperialism, in particular US imperialism, as well as the most difficult of situations caused by repeated natural disasters. Yet the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has not wavered one iota from the path of firmly defending its independence, building socialism and continuing the sacred struggle for national reunification, following the Juche idea laid down by the great leader, in the formulation of which you yourself have made important contributions. Your re-election as Chairman of the National Defence Commission only confirms this leadership.

May we take this opportunity to wish you the greatest success in this most important of posts. Our Party will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with you and with the heroic Korean people in our common cause, the cause of socialism which is the future of humankind.

With warm fraternal regards.

Chris Coleman

on behalf of the Central Committee RCPB(ML)

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Human Development Index: Backward Britain

Britain is one of the most illiterate, poverty-stricken and overworked of all industrialised countries, according to the "human development index" in the UN's annual Human Development Report, published on September 9. The index ranks countries according to education, access to health and average income.

According to the report, more than one in six British people live in poverty and more than one in five British adults is "functionally illiterate" (unable to cope with written instructions). Of the top 20 most advanced countries, Britain has the highest number of young prisoners, the lowest number of doctors per head and the longest working week at 43 hours.

The report paints a picture of the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer in Tony Blair's "Great Britain".

Joint Protest of Calais and Kent Firefighters

A press conference was held recently in Canterbury, where representatives from the Fire Brigades Union and their French counterparts, the SNSPP, voiced their concerns for public safety if Eurotunnel plans go through. Another conference was held in Calais simultaneously to demonstrate the unity of the two forces.

Eurotunnel is proposing to replace the Kent and Calais First Level of Response (FLOR) teams with a private force. The firefighters have decided to launch a campaign to prompt Eurotunnel into a public announcement of their intentions.

Ernie Thornton, the Kent FBU secretary, stressed that the firefighters concern was the safety of the people using the tunnel, and added: "These proposals pose a fundamental threat to the public. The Fire Brigades Union has a vested interest in the safety of the tunnel and its users." The Calais and Kent firefighters were the ones who heroically rescued people from the blaze in the Channel tunnel in November 1996.

Whitehall Vigil to Save the K&C

Campaigners fighting to save the Kent and Canterbury Hospital (K&C) are to stage a week-long vigil in the week beginning September 14.

On Monday they are to walk from the George Inn in Southwark along the Victoria Embankment to Whitehall. They will maintain a presence outside the Department of Health from 6am to 8pm every day up to September 18. The campaign also has the backing of London Health Emergency, as well as various personalities. The Save our Hospitals Campaign has campaigned vigorously with demonstrations of tens and even hundreds of thousands of people in Canterbury and East Kent over many months.

Nurses have written an angry letter to Frank Dobson, the Health Secretary, protesting about the plans to downgrade the K&C. Mary Brown, chairperson of the Canterbury branch of the Royal College of Nursing, writing on behalf of 1,641 members, says the proposals are not based on any kind of health needs analysis, and that the East Kent Health Authority is biased in its financial reasonings.

For further information or to assist the campaign, contact Louise Hummerstone on 01227 765004, Carole Brett, 01227 454808 or Sue Le Touze, 01227 462300.

Social Workers Set to Take Action

Social workers in Wandsworth are set to take action in opposition to the sacking of a third of those dealing with children at risk of abuse.

At a packed meeting of over 150 Wandsworth social workers on September 8, overwhelming support was given to apply for permission for a ballot on a work to rule and refusing to provide cover for colleagues who are sacked. Staff are angry that 87 jobs are to be cut. They say that this will mean that 400 families and children currently cared for will be turned away and workloads will become impossible. This will increase the risk to children in care. These cuts represent the first tranche of the £15 million cuts in services planned by Wandsworth Council which boasts the lowest council taxes in the country. The total saved by cutting the Social Services budget for children and families by ten per cent would reach £2.6 million.

The organisation The Voice of the Child in Care has contacted the council and advised them that "the kind of cuts being proposed will deal a deadly blow."

PAMs present 22 per cent claim

Health professionals, the Professions Allied to Medicine, is presenting evidence to the government's pay review body that shows that only one in 10 professional staff will remain in the NHS. They claim that a 22 per cent rise over three years is necessary to prevent the continuing loss of skilled staff. These include dieticians, opticians, orthoptists, radiographers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and art therapists.

A union spokesperson representing the professionals, referring to the government's pledge to reduce waiting lists, said, "Severe staff shortages are limiting the numbers of patients the NHS can help and the government's ambitious proposals will be extremely difficult, if not impossible."

Doctors Condemn Blair Blackmail

Doctors are demanding pay increases of at least 10 per cent and, for the first time, a £100 flat-rate bonus for junior doctors whose weekends are disrupted by work. Estimates of the British Medical Association suggest that doctors' pay has fallen behind comparable professions such as solicitors and accountants by 20 to 50 per cent. The claim would cost the NHS £300 million.

Dr Ian Bogle, chairman of the BMA, countered government criticism that a higher pay rise would take money away from patient care. He said: "I deplore this blackmail. At one end of the scale, entrants are queueing up to get into medicine. But the attrition rates among students and young doctors is absolutely frightening." Pay that recognised the work of doctors and nurses benefited patients, he said.

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Albania: Victim of the Big Powers

WE ARE REPRINTING BELOW an extract from a speech by Nexhmije Hoxha, widow of Enver Hoxha, leader of the Albanian people and of the former Party of Labour of Albana, and herself a noted political personality in her own right. It was given at a seminar of communist parties and organisations held in Brussels, Belgium, May 1, 1998.

Nexhmije Hoxha, left, Enver Hoxha, third from left, August 1973

The Albanians have understood for a long time that the big powers want to perpetuate the crisis in Albania. The Albanian people are asking: why did they promise so many things for Albania and do nothing? Meetings were organised in Rome, London, Strasbourg and here, in Brussels – there is talk of assistance, investment, of mini-Marshall Plans, etc., but up to now, nothing really concrete has come of this.

It is said: it is necessary to ensure public order, but this is impossible if the international Mafia continues to foster crime, smuggling and a whole range of other phenomena that were never known before, like drug-trafficking, prostitution, etc. For the Albanians, it is unacceptable that some of the great powers of Europe and on the other side of the Atlantic defend these politicians, the ones who destroyed Albania.

Another anguish was added for the Albanians. By barbaric massacres on the part of the Serbia of Milosevic against our brothers in Kosova, families and entire villages have been eliminated. That constitutes a forewarning of Serbia's wishes to achieve their old plans to carry out ethnic cleansing of the territories in which Albanians have lived for centuries, well before the 7th century when the Serb Slavs appeared in the territory of Kosova.

Why did the Contact Group of the great powers at their meeting in Bonn and recently in Rome, give time to Milosevic to terrorise the Albanian population of Kosova and thus prepare the military terrain to light another armed conflict in the Balkans? Serbia threatens not only Albania but the whole Balkan region, and even beyond. The Socialist majority and the coalition which it leads make appeals to NATO to send military forces to Kosova. The right-wing parties linked to the Democratic Party go still further, demanding that NATO be granted entry facilities to Albania through its ports.

Such is the goal of the United States and the European Community to feed the crisis in Albania: to control Albania, which is the strategic point where the paths to three continents cross. Such is the misfortune that has always followed Albania. This small country, throughout its history, has always been the prey to the powers of the East, West, North and South, which covet it in order to divide it among them and to thus have a base that allows them access to three continents.

But the Albanian people have fought against the fascists and won, they have built socialism at great sacrifices and they fully deserve this socialism. I have the firm conviction that the people have not forgotten and that they will fight again for the independence and sovereignty of Albania and for socialism.

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NATO Plans for Intervention in the Balkans

NEWS AGENCIES report that the Serbian repression of the Albanian population of Kosova in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has again intensified.

In the most recent military operations Serbian forces have shelled towns and villages in western Kosova and are responsible for many civilian deaths and tens of thousands of refugees. Constant artillery bombardments have created "ghost towns" throughout the region and the displacement of some 400,000 people in what has already been referred to as a policy of "ethnic cleansing". News agencies also report that 40,000 people of Albanian nationality have been trapped attempting to flee from an advancing Serbian armoured column.

Britain, the US, and the other big powers in NATO and the EU have already imposed economic sanctions on the Belgrade authorities and have threatened NATO military intervention if the violence does not end. They have continued to use threats and bullying tactics to allegedly arrange peace talks. Now NATO is again threatening military intervention ranging from "limited air strikes to the deployment of ground troops". NATO's southern European commander said that about 50,000 troops would be needed to monitor a ceasefire, which the US and others are attempting to broker, between the Serbian forces and the Kosova Liberation Army, which is fighting for the independence of Kosova. At the same time as the big powers talk about peace however, they are turning a blind eye to the Serbian offensive against the KLA, whose struggle for an independent Kosova they oppose. The US envoy in the Balkans, Christopher Hill, after recent talks with the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, stated that action against "Albanian militants" was entirely necessary.

All democratic people must oppose the intervention of NATO and other troops and demand that no British armed forces be sent to this region.

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42 Days on Hunger Strike

The following press release, dated September 10, has been received from the Campaign for Human Rights in Turkey, which was launched by the Liverpool Dockers' Shop Stewards' Delegation to Turkey, July 1996.

The health of M. Sait Karakus, prisoner of TDKP (Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey), is deteriorating because of the 42-day hunger strike he went on to protest inhuman conditions in the Midyat Prison in Mardin.

The members of the Committee Against the Violation of Previously Won Rights in Prison reported after their visit to the prison that Sait Karakus's state of health is very bad; that he is unable to stand up, he faints very often, his bowel bleeds, he has problems with his lungs, and he is very exhausted. The Committee concluded that his state of health is giving death signals.

The Committee also had a meeting with the prison management. While the management agreed to do something about some of the prisoners' demands such as an end to inhuman behaviour, right for the prisoners to see their lawyers, etc., there was a disagreement on the main demand – an end to search the prisoners. The management said they need to talk about these demands again.

Other prisoners in the same prison, and the political prisoners from Bursa and Buca prisons are supporting Sait Karakus through various actions.

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