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From=20itusc@xxxxxxxxxx Tue May 13 18:28:18 1997
Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 16:22:34 GMT
From: Keith Standring <itusc@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Donal Guerin <STSI8015@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, llb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
    iww.news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Subject: MOVEMENT FOR SOCIALISM=20
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MOVEMENT FOR SOCIALISM
c/o 14 Dorset Road, London N22 4SL
CONFERENCE
Sunday 8 June 1997, 11am-4pm
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1
(Holborn tube)=09
Entrance: =A35 (=A31concession)  Enquiries 0171 636 3532 or 0171 274 8342
AFTER THE GENERAL ELECTION -
an open discussion about developing a new party for socialism

 Dear Friends and Comrades,

The Movement for Socialism was set up at the end of last year with the aim
of uniting those who believe we must urgently work together to establish a
new kind of political movement.

We want to discuss the idea that we need a party genuinely *of* the working
class, rather than one which simply proclaims itself as being  *for* the
working class.

The Liverpool dockers have shown - evident in the April 12 march and the
People's Charter for Social Justice - that it is now possible for workers i=
n
struggle for jobs and basic rights, to come together with many other groups
fighting for social justice and dignity. In particular, they have made an
alliance with young people fighting to save the natural environment  - an
alliance which brings together those who see the ravages of the capitalist
system as the main threat to humanity and its future. This alliance has bee=
n
an important move towards ending the traditional and damaging separation
between the industrial and political `wings' of the working-class movement.

Like the working class itself, a new political party must be both
international and internationalist - building on proud traditions of
working-class and socialist internationalism, but also learning the bitter
lessons of the ways in which those traditions have been perverted and
betrayed during the century about to end by Labour, Communist, Social
Democratic and Socialist parties who have accepted the rule of capital i.e.
they now accept that the mass of people will always be wage-slaves.

The result of the 1 May general election, we believe, creates favourable
conditions for this discussion.

The Tories were not only defeated, they were - for the moment - smashed. Th=
e
joy at seeing ministers and ex-ministers who have inflicted such misery fal=
l
was unconfined. Yet the voice not only of New Labour itself, but of the New
Labour trade union bureaucracy too was heard almost before the rejoicing
could express itself.
Transport and General Workers Union leader Bill Morris spoke at the Glasgow
May Day meeting in Tory-free Scotland on May 4. Struggling to make himself
heard above the angry voices of sacked Mersey dockers and their supporters,
his message was unequivocal - there will be no fight by union leaders
against the new government and no prospect of going beyond the New Labour
agenda to reverse any of the major attacks on the workers' movement and the
public services inflicted by 18 years of Tory government.

Unlike even the 1974 Labour government - which immediately conceded victory
to the miners - the new government offers the Mersey dockers no redress.

Yet it is the dockers and the support groups established by them who show
the road ahead. The new methods of struggle in this country developed in th=
e
1984-85 miners' strike, the anti-poll tax movement and now in the Mersey
dockers' fight
clearly show that the winning of socialism will be the work of the working
people and their allies themselves.

The events of 1989-91 in Eastern Europe and now the election of 1997 in
Britain have signalled a permanent shift in the historical basis of our
struggles and a new, socialist organisation is required. We believe that
socialism can only be built through the self-action, political independence
and self-organisation of the working class and all those fighting capital.

This is what we want to discuss on June 8. As soon as possible we would lik=
e
to see the establishment of a transitional organisation towards a new party
for socialism, ready as mass struggles emerge, to become a new party to
challenge capital.
 Please join the discussion.

The agenda will include:
=B7 a discussion on political perspectives
=B7 reports from the Liverpool dockers and the discussion on the People's
Charter for Social Justice
=B7 reports from the Hillingdon and Magnet disputes
=B7 a report from Workers Aid for Bosnia and on the work of rebuilding
co-operation among workers in former Yugoslavia
=B7 a report from the Manchester anti-runway campaign
=B7 a report on the work of the International Trade Union Solidarity Campai=
gn,
including a report on International Women's Day and discussion on women's
role now
=B7 a report from the Pan African Freedom Fighters Asylum Campaign
=B7 a report on campaigns for Irish political prisoners in Britain
=B7 a report from the Kashmir International Front
We will also be discussing future publications and proposals for a series o=
f
symposia on science, history and Marxist theory.

We hope you will attend and bring others.
=09=09
Yours fraternally,=09
Liz Leicester (secretary)=09       =20
Steve Ballard (convenor)

Details also available from Index Bookcentres at 28 Charlotte Street, Londo=
n W1
(0171-636 3532) and 10-12 Atlantic Road, London SW9 (0171-274 8342).       =
    =20
                             Please tell us if you need childcare facilitie=
s.









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