Phil Moore (South London CARL)
The mass CARL demonstration last November - which brought over 20,000 onto the streets - was a break-through in anti-racist activity. For.the first time, wide layers of the Black and labour movements joined together in common action against just that. Attended by over 100 delegates from Black, Labour & anti-racist bodies, a wide-ranging debate took place on how to take the campaign forward.
Agreeing that the focus for the campaign should be around the 1971 Immigration Act, a number of national initiatives were discussed for the coming months.
In order to extend the campaign into local areas, it was also agreed to set up a number of regional committees - where possible - to co-ordinate activity and involve trade union and Black community support.
Such initiatives have, indeed, already been taken in a number press on immigration and to get the real facts into peoples' hands.
The bulletin, it was agreed, should be the responsibility of a steering cttee elected at the conference. To ensure the widest representation on the citee, it was also agreed that all organisations attiliating to it would be able io seru celegates aiong
thousands of Labour supporters. 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 Such a left-wing should support not only policies in the interests of working people but also their allies among the youth, Blacks, women and oppressed national minorities. It is only by showing that Labour champions the rights of all the oppressed and exploited that a Socialist Action