Workers' Weekly V.28 No.6

WORKERS' WEEKLY thoroughly and vehemently condemns the warmongering of US imperialism and the British government against Iraq. It joins its voice with all those who are demonstrating their opposition to the preparations to bomb Iraq into submission to demand HANDS OFF IRAQ! END THE SANCTIONS! NO MORE BOMBINGS!

The Labour government is disgracing itself not only in the eyes of the British people but before the court of world opinion in its frenzied backing of the fascist logic of US imperialism that Iraq must submit to its dictate come what may, and in its own activities in preparing for military strikes against the Iraqi people. Its activities have also contributed, in no small measure, to the claim of US imperialism that it is recruiting more countries to an alliance for an assault on Iraq. Lest there be any doubt about its intentions, Robin Cook emphasised in the Commons that Britain and the US are "not bluffing".

This warmongering not only flies in the face the opposition of the world's people, but of the majority of governments also. From the Middle East, to France, to China, to Russia, governments are flatly opposed to this punitive, vindictive and inhuman use of force. Just to take the example of China, its Vice Premier Li Lanqing said that the international community should do its best to avoid using force, and China Daily reported that Ji Peiding, the Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister, commented that Iraq's "sovereignty and security concerns should be respected, and humanitarian issues of the Iraqi people should be settled as soon as possible".

But the British government has been issuing straightforward lies about Iraq's intentions and manufacture of weapons. It is reported that the Cabinet has ordered a media blitz to prepare public opinion for a military attack on Iraq since, in the words of a Downing Street spokesman spreading disinformation, "a large part of public opinion does not quite get why we take the situation so seriously". The logic of the British bourgeoisie was exposed when Alan Clark, the former Trade and Defence Minister, in a radio interview said that during the Iran-Iraq war the thinking of the British government was that the longer those two countries fought each other "the better it was for the West". Today that logic translates into the US superpower trying to impose its dictate on the entire world and trying to wipe Iraq off the face of the earth.

As the US and Britain step up their military presence in the Gulf and reject any attempts to resolve the situation other than by force, and as the economic sanctions drag on which have caused the death of 1.2 million Iraqi children, Workers' Weekly condemns US imperialism and the Labour government for what amounts to genocide of the first order and one of the most heinous crimes against humanity this century.

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Tony Blair in Washington:

Furthering Labour's Plans to "Make Britain Great Again"

SUCH WAS THE SUPPORT of Tony Blair for US President Bill Clinton during his visit to Washington from February 5 to 7 that his overriding concern was to assure the US imperialist chieftain and world opinion that Britain would go it alone, if necessary, with the United States in using military force against Iraq.

Labour's plan to "make Britain great again" centres around the vain aim of making the British monopolies successful in the global market. Internationally, its central plank is to build a closer alliance with the US. This was initially spelled out when Clinton visited Britain at the end of May last year, shortly after the general election. Tony Blair then said: "Britain does not have to choose between its strong relationship in Europe and its strong trans-Atlantic relationship with the United States.

One strength deepens the other. A Britain that is leading in Europe is a Britain capable of ever closer relations also with the United States of America." Bill Clinton endorsed this, saying: "I agree that it is good for the United States to have a Britain that is strong in Europe and strong in its relations with the United States." Clearly Blair's plan to "make Britain great again" now involves the bombing of the men, women and children of Iraq.

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Opposition Growing to Strikes against Iraq

MANY different organisations and individuals have responded to the warmongering and the threat of military strikes against Iraq by organising protests and demonstrations of various kinds.

The Ad Hoc Committee Against War in the Gulf held the first of a series of Saturday demonstrations in Whitehall opposite Downing Street on February 7 with the slogans: No more bombings! Lift the sanctions! The Committee has called for a demonstration outside Number 10, Downing Street from 5.00 to 7.00 pm should an attack be launched on Iraq. Other organisations have also called for a vigil in Whitehall around the same time if bombing raids start. Organisations which have been holding weekly pickets against the punitive and illegal sanctions against Iraq are also joining in these demonstrations.

A number of public meetings are being organised at the House of Commons, as well as other places. On February 9, a public meeting was held addressed by Tony Benn and a number of democratic and progressive organisations. Another is scheduled for February 16. On February 12, a number of Labour MPs launched an Emergency Committee on Iraq, having delivered a letter of protest to Number 10, Downing Street on February 9.

These are some of the protests Workers' Weekly has learned of, representing the anger and militant opposition of democratic people to what the British government is doing in the name of the people. The propaganda machine of the bourgeoisie has been working overtime in trying to gain support for Britain as the number one henchman of US imperialism, but still the opposition from people from all walks of life is growing.

In America too, there have been mass demonstrations by hundreds of groups and prominent individuals in cities across the United States. A National Emergency Coalition to Stop the War Against Iraq has been set up with a long list of participating organisations. Mass actions have been called, for example, in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and Tucson in a call to action from February 17 to 24.

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Fighting for a New Society and the Future of the NHS

EVERYONE KNOWS the infamous remark of Margaret Thatcher that with the Conservative Party, the "NHS is safe with us". The Labour Party continually condemned the Conservative government for dismantling the NHS and made as a central plank of election campaign that Labour would "rebuild the NHS".

In other words, the people's health care is made a party-political football, a preserve for propaganda purposes of the political parties, while up and down the country people are still compelled to wage campaigns against the closure of hospitals and services. In the NHS White Paper published last December, the Labour government made its aim one of replacing the so-called "internal market" introduced by the Conservative government with "integrated care", while claiming that Labour's plans mark a turning point for the NHS. Meanwhile, the Turnberg report into health care in London, "Health Care in London – A Strategic Review", was published which simply does not adopt a coherent approach to the problems of the health needs of the people, but which nevertheless has received the full backing of Health Secretary Frank Dobson. Any attempt to assess what is happening to the health care services and programmes will also fail to deal with the profundity of the crisis unless an aim is given to health service which meets the demands modern times, of the coming 21st century.

Such an approach must start from the principle that the people have a right to claim from society the health services that they need, and secondly that the people's health care must not be regarded as a source of profits for the monopolies and the financial oligarchy but that health services must be equally available to all at the highest level, and that investments are ploughed into the NHS from this perspective. The people, including health workers, cannot accept that the funding for the NHS be considered according to business criteria, that is, that funding has to be capped, that "efficiency" and "effectiveness" are the overriding watchwords, and that funding, as with PFI, is provided according to what is profitable and geared to the needs of the monopolies.

The NHS White Paper declares that the NHS must guarantee the highest possible standards of quality and efficiency through the country. Yet the people's experience is not only that are they having to fight against the run-down of the health service but that private health care, where ability to pay determines treatment, is expanding and diverting services from NHS patients.

The White Paper underlines that the "new NHS will give you more information and a bigger say". Even if this were true, what health workers and all concerned people need to fight for is a society that recognises and provides for the claims of all. It is in this context that the fight to defend and safeguard the future of the NHS must take place.

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Actions against Cuts in Health Care

A 1,000-signature petition was handed in to the Department of Health yesterday, February 13, by campaigners against the massive cuts to the health service in south-west London. A lobby took place at the Department of Health to protest against the funding shortfall of £23 million in the Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth area. One of the main sufferers from these cuts is Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, and many people local to Queen Mary's have signed the petition. The Turnberg report recommended that the hospital should become "a small community hospital", which the Health Secretary has accepted, with the majority of acute work being moved to Kingston Hospital. The managers of Queen Mary's have desperately tried to paint these cuts as an opportunity to "create a new model of hospital".

Many other actions against cuts in health service funding and to save hospitals from closure have been taking place in recent weeks and months, for example at Whipps Cross Hospital in East London, in Canterbury, Kent, and against the closure of four hospitals in Cornwall, with demonstrations and public meetings.

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Merger of Glaxo Wellcome and Smithkline Beecham:

Monopolisation of Pharmaceutical Industry for Maximum Profits

ON JANUARY 30, two of the largest monopolies in Britain, pharmaceutical companies Glaxo Wellcome and Smithkline Beecham, announced that they are planning a £100bn merger to create the world's largest pharmaceutical monopoly.

Glaxo Wellcome, which employs nearly 55,000 people throughout the world, is already the manufacturer of some of the world's best selling drugs including the asthma treatment Ventolin. The monopoly was itself only created in 1995 as a result Glaxo's £9bn take-over of Wellcome, at that time the biggest in Britain's history. Smithkline Beecham, which employs over 57,000 people throughout the world, is the manufacturer of such products as Panadol, Lucozade and Horlick's. The combined sales of the proposed new monopoly would amount to some £20bn, and account for 10% of the global prescription medicine market.

This proposed merger, "the biggest deal in corporate history", reflects the increasing monopolisation that exists not only in the pharmaceutical industry but in all areas of the economy. It is the great monopolies which dominate the economy not just of Britain but also stretch their tentacles throughout the world. Glaxo Wellcome, for example, has just announced that it has signed a deal which will make it the largest pharmaceutical company in Poland and allow it to expand and dominate the markets of eastern and central Europe.

The proposed merger would allow the new monopoly to create the largest research and development organisation in the global healthcare industry. But this dominance is not in order to improve the health of the people of Britain or of other countries. The only concern of the monopolies is domination of the global market and the making of maximum capitalist profits. At the same time the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers and their families are subject to this pursuit of maximum profits, which requires pushing wages and living conditions to the lowest level and the loss of thousands of jobs as a result of rationalisation. Already trade unions fear that as a result of the merger some 3000 job losses will occur in Britain.

The proposed merger also reflects the profitability of pharmaceutical manufacture and the health care industry in general. The shares of both companies rose substantially when the announcement was made and led to record share dealing on the stock exchanges of Britain, the US and other countries. The fact is that in this society health care is not recognised as a right that is freely available to all according to their need, but as a means for the monopolies to make maximum profits. The NHS, through the Private Finance Initiative and by other means, is itself used as a source of profit for the pharmaceutical and other monopolies. It is therefore not coincidental that at a time when the government is cutting the funding of the NHS and closing hospitals, allegedly because of lack of financial resources, the profits of the monopolies and the financial speculators are increasing.

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The Spectre of Communism:

The Spectre Today

150 years ago this month, the Manifesto of the Communist Party came off the press. In his monograph Karl Marx, Lenin wrote: In the spring of 1847 Marx and Engels joined a secret propaganda society called the Communist League; they took a prominent part in the League's Second Congress (London, November 1847), at whose request they drew up the celebrated Communist Manifesto, which appeared in February 1848. With the clarity and brilliance of genius, this work outlines a new world-conception, consistent materialism, which also embraces the realm of social life; dialectics, as the most comprehensive and profound doctrine of development; the theory of the class struggle and of the world-historic revolutionary role of the proletariat — the creator of a new, communist society.

The spectre which haunts imperialism today remains the spectre of communism. However, today the battle against communism has been transformed into a broad campaign against the new, against any progress whatsoever. The imperialist countries create pretexts in order to interfere in the affairs of other countries and even invade or bomb, as in Iraq, with the declaration that all countries must adhere to the capitalist and imperialist status quo and come under the dictate of the values of the Paris Charter. The imperialists in the name of "democracy" and "progress" attack all attempts to open the door to progress and democracy, and turn back the clock. They sow maximum confusion about the need for change.

The revolutionary role of the proletariat today remains that of the creator of a new, communist society. It forges the unity of all progressive forces around its programme and leads the way out of the crisis to open the door to progress and create a new world with the complete emancipation of all humanity.

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Northern Region Decisions on Work for 1998

THE Northern Region of the Party reports that the units in the region have been studying the editorial in Workers' Weekly "Reaffirming the Party's Programme" which points out that that it is not just that the Party members and activists work hard, but that they work on the basis of the strength of the collective under the leadership of the Central Committee.

In summing up their work at the end of 1997 the advanced experience was seen where a basic organisation had made plans for the work and implemented it on the basis of the organisational principle of collective work and the taking up of individual responsibilities. This was key in consolidating the work around the Party's programme in the region. However, as the editorial points out, "what is crucial at this stage is that these advances need to be worked for". In re-starting the work in earnest in 1998 units have taken the decision that it is vital that the collective work of the basic organisations is strengthened and that all the work is developed on this basis. The units are proceeding with their plans to implement the programme of the party to Improve the Content and Expand the Readership of Workers' Weekly in the region, to increase their financial contribution to the Party and to work to build and give further consideration to building organisations among the working class.

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For your reference:

Fraudulently Opposing "Weapons of Mass Destruction"

The United States and Britain claim that their current threats against Iraq are justified by that country's development of "weapons of mass destruction" – defined as nuclear, chemical and biological ones. Both the US and Britain are also very loud in opposing the "danger" of the spread, or "proliferation", of such weapons to other countries.

However, the US and Britain are themselves the biggest users and stockpilers of such weapons and are concerned to maintain their monopoly.

US WEAPONRY

The United States possesses around 8,500 long-range nuclear warheads – enough to wipe out all the larger towns and cities in the world many times over. It is engaged in a continuing programme to develop new nuclear weapons such as the "deep penetration" nuclear bomb announced in April 1997. US officials have refused to rule out using this against Iraq in the current crisis.

The United States has been by far the world's largest user of biological and chemical weapons, including using the notorious "Agent Orange" during the Vietnam war to destroy large tracts of that country's forests and using biological agents to destroy Czechoslovakian crops. In August 1997, the government of Cuba presented evidence to the United Nations of operations being carried out by the United States to plague Cuba with crop-eating pests.

BRITISH WEAPONRY

Britain is currently replacing its Polaris submarine-launched nuclear missile system with the Trident one, which has three times the range, is much more accurate and can hit eight times the number of targets. In 1993, the British government announced a new plan to allow the use of Trident missiles "tactically" to defend British "vital interests" around the world.

NATO

The NATO military bloc is led by the United States and is strongly backed by Britain. Its members dominate world military spending, arms production and trade, while it declares that nuclear weapons "play a unique and essential role in alliance strategy". NATO is currently reorganising itself under the slogan "new members, new missions". Its former Supreme Commander and Chief of the US General Staff recently looked forward to seeing NATO's "new horizon", with its "essential" nuclear weapons, expanding beyond Europe to the Middle East and Africa.

INTERNATIONAL TREATIES

When it comes to weapons of mass destruction, the United States and Britain also stand in contravention of international treaties and norms.

The Charter of the United Nations has among its four overriding aims "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war..." and "to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained...".

The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, to which both the United States and Britain are signatories, obliges nuclear powers to "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race ... and to nuclear disarmament."

In 1996 the World Court ruled that use and threat of use of nuclear weapons would be "generally illegal" and said that the only possible exception might be "...an extreme circumstance of self-defence, in which the very survival of a State would be at stake." It ruled that states possessing nuclear weapons are obliged "to pursue in good faith and bring to conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects...". The presiding judge emphasised that "The existence of nuclear weapons is ... a challenge to the very existence of humanitarian law...". "Humanitarian law" relates to many binding treaties which countries such the US and Britain have entered into.

The Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 bans the development, production and stockpiling of biological agents other than for peaceful purposes. The US and Britain are co-depositories of this treaty. The use of biological weapons was outlawed under the Geneva Protocol of 1925.

Neither the US or Britain are upholding their treaty commitments to get rid of their nuclear weapons, while grave suspicions exist over their continuing development of chemical and biological weapons. In December 1997 the British government went so far as to vote against a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for the start of negotiations leading to the abolition of nuclear weapons.

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Cornwall:

Government Refuses to Fund South Crofty

AN ANNOUNCEMENT was made in the House of Commons on February 5 that the government would not be funding the South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall. The mine will now close on March 6 and some 280 workers will be made redundant. It will also result in the loss of an estimated 1,000 jobs in the wider community. The workforce had already taken a 10 per cent pay cut, causing great hardship for the workers' families.

Cornwall is a region that, like others such as the North East of England, is suffering severe economic plight, with high levels of poverty and unemployment, making it one of the poorest regions of Europe. The closure of the South Crofty mine will only add to its problems and those of the national economy. It will mean the loss of irreplaceable skills and culture, and a very uncertain future for the miners who lose their jobs.

The government's reason for refusing to fund the tin mining is that it is not "viable" as a business. The South Crofty project was said to suffer from a "competitiveness problem" by the Minister for Small Firms, Trade and Industry, Barbara Roche. The initiative that is needed, according to the Minister, is to promote Cornwall "as a place where business can compete and win in world markets. Cornwall has successfully attracted inward investment by companies such as USA-owned Harman International, Contico Europe and Pall Corporation".

This announcement sums up the Labour government's logic which is hell-bent on destroying the nation and the national economy, putting all the human, material and natural assets at the disposal of the monopolies in their drive to be competitive on the global market, and characterising as success the exploitation of human and material resources by foreign multinationals. The harmonious development of the economy where the people set its direction and benefit from its planned advance could not be further from the government's thoughts and actions.

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Demonstrations in Cornwall against the Anti-Social Offensive

On February 7, thousands of people took to the main roads of Cornwall in their cars in protest against the effects of the anti-social offensive in Cornwall, driving slowly in all lanes and causing tailbacks of several miles. Cars and tractors were decorated with the Cornish flag of gold and black.

Among those participating were demonstrators against the closure of four local hospitals in Cornwall. Already thousands of signatures have been handed into Downing Street and other demonstrations staged protesting against the closures. The closures come at a time when the pressure on the health services is increasing due to poor health caused by poverty and an increasing elderly population.

A considerable number of miners from the South Crofty tin mine participated in the demonstration, showing their opposition to the closure of the mine and their concern over the lack of jobs in the region.

Also participating were fishermen whose boats have been taken out of service or their fishing quotas curtailed. Farmers are also complaining about restrictions on the sale of agricultural produce and loss of trade. Other Cornish organisations also took part.

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Message to Kim Jong Il from CC of RCPB(ML)

The Central Committee of RCPB(ML) has sent the following message of congratulations to Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, on the occasion of his 56th birthday, February 16, 1998 (Juche 87).

Dear Comrade Kim Jong Il,

On the happy occasion of your 56th birthday, on behalf of our Central Committee and entire Party I should like to send you our warmest congratulations and good wishes for your continued good health and further great success in your work.

Last October and November our Central Committee delegation had the great privilege and pleasure to visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for the first time at the invitation of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, and to exchange gifts with you. We witnessed the great outpouring of joy at your election to the post of General Secretary of the Party. We noted the great unity of the people around the Party and its leadership. We saw at first hand the great achievements in building a society dedicated to the wellbeing of the masses of the people literally from the ashes of 1953. We saw the determination to overcome the economic difficulties caused by natural disasters by your own efforts, welcoming aid but not allowing it to undermine the integrity of the country. We observed the determination to defend to the death the independence of the country at a time of immense military provocation by the US imperialists and their south Korean puppets. We noted the continued unstinting efforts to bring about the peaceful reunification of the homeland. Most of all we were moved by the great determination of the Korean people, under your leadership, to continue on the path laid down by the great leader, Comrade Kim Il Sung, the path of the Juche idea, which you have played a prominent part in developing.

At this time when the US imperialists are applying brutal pressure on all countries to bow to their will, only one example being the shameful war threats by them and their British allies against Iraq, and all the imperialist powers are trying to impose on the peoples of the world their free market, political pluralism and human rights based on private property, the heroic stand of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to follow its chosen path, under your wise leadership, is an example and inspiration to all progressive forces.

The cause for which the Korean people are fighting, the cause of independence, of socialism, is the cause of all progressive humanity. We stand shoulder to shoulder with you in this common cause. Once again we offer you our warm congratulations and our best wishes for all success.

Chris Coleman

on behalf of the Central Committee Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)

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The Removal of Root Cause Must Be Main Priority

The following article is reprinted from The Pyongyang Times of January 10.

The way of ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula is to remove the source of tension and war.

It is the United States that is keeping tension and threat of war on the Korean peninsula. The United States is reinforcing the armed forces of aggression in and around south Korea for the purpose of stifling the DPRK with strength.

The war manoeuvres against the DPRK are leading the situation of the peninsula to an armed conflict and a phase of war.

The conservative hard-liners of the United States are directing the arrow of their military strategy to the DPRK after the Cold War in a bid to destroy the socialist bulwark.

The facts clearly show what is the source of tension on the Korean peninsula and from which side the threat of war comes. Accordingly, the question of ensuring peace and security on the peninsula should be discussed, focusing on removing the source of tension and war from the peninsula.

The international community, if it is truly interested in peace and security on the peninsula, should clearly see the situation on the peninsula and concentrate its efforts on removing the source of tension.

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Opposition to MAI

AN INTERNATIONAL WEEK OF ACTION against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) took place from February 9 to 13. The MAI is being negotiated secretly by the 29 countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) plus the European Union (EU).

On February 10, more than 600 organisations from 67 countries released a joint statement (for text, see last week's edition of Workers' Weekly, February 7) on MAI, an agreement which provides foreign investors and multinational corporations unrestricted freedoms to operate within the boundaries and jurisdictions of other national territories. The statement points out that the draft MAI "elevates the rights of investors far above those of governments, local communities, citizens, workers and the environment".

On February 13, the World Development Movement (WDM) and Friends of the Earth (FoE) delivered a letter to Margaret Beckett, President of the Board of Trade, calling for a halt to the MAI. Other organisations from Britain have also signed the joint statement demanding that negotiations on MAI be halted, and are campaigning against it.

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