Socialist Action sees as its central aim building, within the labour movement, a class-struggle left-wing fighting for socialist policies against those which lost Labour the last election and disillusioned thousands of Labour supporters.
of working people but also their allies among the youth, Blacks, right-wing allies in the labour movement).
around the following demands:
programme for those already on the dole.
living to offset inflation. own future - Get the troops out of Ireland now!
strategy on coal. Explore alternative energy resources.
around concrete issues. They also seek to encourage the widest their point of view and for decisions to be mandatory on Labour enter contribute to it - write to: Socialist Action, PO Box No 65, London SW16 INN. What We Stand For Such a left-wing should support not only policies in the interests women and oppressed national minorities. It is only by showing that Labour champions the rights of all the oppressed and exploited that a really united offensive can be organised against the Tories (and their Socialist Action believes that a fighting left wing should be built * Hands off the unions! No curbs on the right to strike or picket!
* For the 35-hour week! End unemployment by work-sharing (with no loss of pay) and introduce a mass public works * Oppose all wage curbs. For wage increases tied to the cost of * Open the books of all companies claiming inability to pay a decent living wage or threatening redundancies. Nationalise those * Tax the rich not the poor. No cuts in the social services - for social spending to be tied to increases in the cost of living.
* For women's rights. For the right of all women to abortion on demand, free nurseries, equal pay and opportunity. Support NAC.
* Fight racism. Repeal all racist immigration laws. Defend the right of Black people to organise as they see fit in the community * For the right of all oppressed nations to determine their own * For a safe environment. End nuclear reactors and base an energy Socialist Action supporters, while fighting for the above demands, seek the widest possible unity of all forces in the labour movement democracy in the labour movement to allow all currents to argue for If you would like to know more about Socialist Action - Or Reagan's 'landslide victory' in the US presidential election is being boosted in newspapers every where as a major swing to the right by the American people. As when ThatANGER The major result HAWK Although the press play it down, the 1980 election saw the lowest turn-out in over 30 years, continuing the decline since the 1948 poll.
Reagan won on a lower percentage vote - 26.5% - than Nixon in '72, Johnson in '64 or Eisenhower in '56.
What this low turn-out reveals. above all, is the growing frustration among US workers and their distrust of the two-party system. This tact was partially recognised by the more astute big business commentators.
The editors of the New York Times, for example, supporting Anderson's independent campaign, cynically observed: "A large body of voters is dissatisfied with a Reagan-Carter choice in November. To deny them an independent alternative risks harming something larger than the two-party system: confidence in the whole political process".
Only too true. What growing numbers of US workers realised was that - whoever got into the White House - the drive towards war and the attacks on their living standards would continue.
Carter, of course, tried to play on US workers anti-war sentiments by painting Reagan as a 'hawk' and himself as a peace candidate. Reagan's hawkish tendencies were clearly evident in his call for a blockade of Cuba and his pledge to boost arms spending But Carter's attempt to play the "dove' cut little ice with US workers. They clearly remembered his attempted coup in Iran, his threat to intervene in the Persian Gulf and his decision to pump over $100 billion into the MX missiles system.
As correspondent Ellen Goodman wrily observed: "It's easy enough to think of Reagan as a hawk. But it is hard to think of Carter as a dove when he harbours rifle-toting Brzezinski under one wing and the draft registration plans under the other".
ANTI-LABOUR Similarly, Reagan's open support for anti-union laws at home - and his pledge to fund tax cuts for the rich at the expense of social services - clearly alienated many US workers. those corporations that shut down