All he says is that if the Brezhnevites transform Afghanistan into Mongolia it would be alright, but if things "get out of hand the damage could be immense. In other words we suspend judgement till history records its verdict.
But the Mongolian analogy is beside the point. Primarily because the Red Army entered Mongolia in 1921 to crush the White armies and the forces of China's warlords which nad enterco inal country: 1aerc was also a revolutionary government in power in the Soviet Union.
Brezhnev is the heir of Stalin rather than Lenin or Trotsky. Soviet foreign policy has different aims now.
Fred is aware of these facts. It is unfortunate that he does pot insert them inte dis analysis of the present crisis in South Asia.
RECENTLY spoke at a meeting of over two hundred Pakistani workers in Sparkbrook, Birmingham. It was a meeting sponsored by a variety of working class organisations. Three Labour MPs had been scheduled to speak but had withdrawn on hearing that the SWP and IMG were to be present on the platform.
What made the meeting somewhat special was that it was the first attempt by Pakistani workers to expose gangsterism and corruption inside the community. It was alleged that a Pakistani hustler was in league with the police A story headlined 'Police in "extortion" the possession of local activists.
police. 'union leaderships from below.
South crisis in Britain. racket' was published in The Guardian on 28 February. But it did not reveal the identity of the person in question. We can do so. He is Saber Mirza, Vice-Chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (UK), There are signed statements from a dozen of his victims now in Many of those who have given these signed statements are understandably nervous about these being used against them by the local police. The only advice proffered by Labour MPs is that they should trust the But the meeting had one important impact. It ended the cycle of fear which dominated the community. Mirza was named and denounced. That in itself will act as a 5 partal deterrent. But more activity is being aims:
THE Tory Cabinet is divided on how to deal with the unions. Thatcher and Joseph are for a frontal confrontation with the unions. They feel that they can play on the uncertainties inside the working class and outflank the 'Prior and Heseltine view such a confrontation with alarm. They are perfectly aware that any attempt to view the recent events in Wales, Longbridge and Sheerness as a justification for bashing the union leaders conia provoke an extremely serious political The Prime Minister most admired in Downing Street is the gentle Tory squire, Stanley Baldwin. He organised ruling class forces, provoked a General Strike and defeated the workers in 1926.
The strategic aim of the British ruling class and the whole Tory party is to inflict a defeat on the workers' movement at every level. The reason for this is not just class spite, but the precarious condition of the international capitalist economy.
The British trade unions are admired the world over for their organisational strength and their unity (no divisions on religious or political lines) Since the Second World War the trade unions have grown phenomenally. Britain is the most unionised society in the capitalist world.
But this strength, manifested most when living standards and social gains are under attack, has become a major obstacie to restructuring British capitalism. Hence the Tory desire to weaken the unions. Hence the heated debates at Downing Street. Hence Thatcher's public attack on Prior. She disagrees with his tactics, but that is no reason to sack him from the Cabinet. (Has she read John Marshall's Party and Faction articles, 1 But the divisions inside the ruling class party should not make the left complacent, for there are many unresolved paradoxes in the present situation.
In 1926 the trade unions were not as • strong as they are now. The ruling class was materially and economically much stronger. But socialist politics had a much bigger base in the industrial working class and the Russian revolution was only nine years old.
• Lodav the situation is almost reversed The ruling class is materially weak, but politically and ideologically strong. The working class is organisationally strong and politically weak.
A failure to recognise this paradox will make it even more difficult to find a solution. nence me via necessiy Us sigming or socialist politics and socialist ideas in the labour movement as a whole.
THE 'British Journal of Hospital Medicine' is not my favourite magazine, but its February 1980 issue has a fascinating 'American letter'. This reveals that the Shah's move to New York had very little to do with his health.
The 'Journal's' American correspondent expresses despair that the State Department used doctors to further its sordid political Whatever the secret political gyrations that led Washington to admit the Shah to the USA, the medical side of the deal looks as phony as a $2 bill...However much the Shah's doctors protest that they had no choice but to go along with the State Depart. ment's orders, it's going to be a long time before anybody believes a medical bulletin on a major political figure again.' It goes without saying that, but for the mass mobilisations in Iran. the state Department's attempt to allow the Shah to stay in the USA would have been successful.