Wales to the Merseyside - are being turned into industrial deserts.
And the policy is quite deliberate. As Eric Heffer pointed out in the Commons recently, the jobless total is part of the Tories' strategy. Throwing thousands on the dole will, they hope, force wages down and profits up, thus making industry more 'competitive'.
The laws against the unions they intend bringing into the next session will, they also hope, finish off any resistance that will be left.
RESPONSE What has been the response of the Labour leaders to the latest figures? Jim Callaghan tabled a polite 6 ISSUES - £1.50 12 ISSUES -£3.00 motion of 'no confidence' in the government & announced that -when returned to office in 4 years -he would save jobs by introducing "selective import controls'.
In other words, apart from making a few pledges for the future: nothing. What Callaghan - and his TUC allies - have to be told is that we cannot wait another 4 years. By the time Labour is returned, millions of jobs will have been lost as industries close and the social services are mutilated.
FIGHT-BACK Last May, under mass pressure, the labour leaders were forced to hold a 'day of action' against Tory Name Address Phone.
SOCIALIST ACTION c/o 58 Auckland Road, London SE19. enough. What is needed is a real drive in trade union and Labour it's too late.
TUC this September around the (ASTMS) policies. But one-off protests are not can be measured not only in the Party branches to force the leaders into a determined fight to remove the Thatcher government before A first step in this will be to the country. support the lobby for jobs of the demands 'For a 35-hour Week' and 'Fight to kick the Tories out now'.
few years ago". numbers arrested or the threat -by Jaap Cillier, top government official - to ban all Black trade unions. It can be seen, above all, in the fact that the South African army has for the first time ever been placed on a war footing within Not even during the mass urban uprisings of 1976 and 1977 -which were put down by the use of the police and army - was the regular army placed on such an alert. They are no doubt aware, as an ANC member told the New York Times last month, that "... the lifespan of the regime is much shorter than any of us thought a ing population.
BACKING This is why, despite the embargoes placed against Iran or the hysteria whipped up over Afghanistan, neither Carter or Thatcher have seen fit to denounce the mass repression against the Black population in South Africa.
But time is not on their side. Despite all its repressive techniques, the white minority regime is finding it ever more difficult to hold back the struggle by 22 million blacks for democratic rights.
It will be up to us in Britain to help them in this struggle by ensuring that the Tory government gives no aid to its racist allies.
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