+ All redundancies to be met with occupations. The demand should be advancod that the Labour Government nation alise without compensation any firm declaring redundancies, and guarantee wark for the full lahour force. *The unemployed to be organised by the unions. The demand of full pay for the unemployed must be put forward. 3. Housing and education The social services are at present in chaos due to the economic system of capitalism. On housing, all land owned by companies and all major building firms should be nationalised without compensation. A crash housing programme must be launched immediately.
This is a long term solution, but housing is desperately needed in the short term, It is well known that hundreds of thousands of houses are jsut sitting empty. Working class organisations, squatters and tenants associations should take these over at once, and demand that the Government and local councils take these properties over without compensation. The Housing Finance Act must be repealed: but rents must also be reduced to their level before the Act, as a first step to the provision of free bousing tor all.
On education the full student demands on grants must be met, and rapid increases in teachers' pay awarded, To attract teachers to London, where prices are very high, the full union demand on London allowances must be met.
Ireland is at present the most open case of British imperialist oppression. It is a scandal that Labour has maintained a bipartisan policy with the Tories on this. All British troops must be withdrawn from Ireland, self determination granted, and all Irish political prisoners must be released. 5. Repression Throughout the last years even the bourgeois democratic rights of the working class have been undermined. There are dozens of steps which must be taken on this front, But four stand out. First, the six men imprisoned at Shrewsbury must be released immediately, Immediate pardons must be granted to all those convicted and the 1875 Conspiracy Act under which they have been prosecuted must be repealed. Secondly, the Price sisters and all Irish political prisoners must be released. Third, the High Court must be overturned and the surcharges levied against them for unately repealed and all funds seized in full, with interest. 6. Racism By far the biggest threat to the forging of working class unity, for the coming struggles is that of racism, The Labour party continually capitulates to racism. Instead of immediately rebuffing and rejecting Enoch Powell's call for a Labour vote, for example, decision preventing the former Clay Cross Councillors from holding office accepted it. This not merely goes paid rents lifted, Fourth, the Industrial Relations Act must be immediby the National Industrial Relations Court must be repaid to the unions Wilson and company silently against all the needs of the working class for unity, but it even threatens the electoral prospects of Labour, The insidious poison of racism can split the solidarity of the organisa tions of the working class in a way no other issue could. By supporting the immigration laws and carrying on no campaign apainst Powell and the other racists Labour gives credibility to the view that it is immigration, rather than capitalism, which is responsible for the problems which affect the working class. A big campaign must be launched immediately to break up the attempts of the racists and fascists to organise, and also to force repeal of the Immigration Act, the Pakistan Act and the Aliens Act, CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE The most important thing in the coming months is to smash the argumene that now there is a Labou government in chings must be left to them 'we must not rock the boat. Labour will proceed, despite some Initial concessions, to a series of vicious attacks on the working class. In the election the International Marxist Group raised the slogan 'Vote Labour but rely only on your own struggles. The working class voted Labour to get rid of the Tories They succeeded. Now it is precisely only their own struggles they will be able to rely on. ment, after three years of unrelenting attacks on the working class Just about the only thine that is nor peculiar about this election has been the miserable attempts by the Labour left to persuade militants to subordinate evory struggle and issue to vote catching for the Labour Party.
A revolutionary organisation is in a sad state when it considers that the more critical the state of the capitalist system, and the more acute class struggle, the more diversionary is the presence of revolutionary candidates in an election. Such moods are understandable among social democratic workers. They are inexcusable amongst people who claim to be revolutionary socialist leaders.
The IS statement was far more Red Weekly B March 1974 Page: