Hit Back with the RCP: Vote Farekh Afzal (1983)

BRITAN ISN'T WORKING

LABOUR ISN'T FIGHTING

HIT BACK

WITH THE

POP

9 JUNE 1983

VOTE

Farehk Afzal

REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY

The last four years have been disastrous for the working class. Under Margaret Thatcher, the Tories have launched an onslaught against trade unionists, the unemployed, black people and women. We have been forced to pay the price for their attempts to salvage British capitalism in the face of a world recession. Another Tory government would mean more of the same - and worse.

THE TORY OFFENSIVE

• Unemployment: around four million people - including more than a million youth - have been forced into inactivity, isolation and poverty • Living standards: real wage levels are stagnant while social security benefits slip steadily behind; deeper recession means higher rents, rates and prices - and even lower incomes - ahead • War: the Tories have steadily built up Britain's war machine, conventional and nuclear; they have deployed its murderous power in the Falklands and in Ireland • Rights: Thatcher's government has destroyed trade union rights; used cuts and unemployment to drive women back into the home; and made all blacks liable to interrogation by immigration authorities and harassment by the police.

The Tories are the party of the capitalist class; Labour is supposed to represent the workers. But the Labour Party has failed to fight the Tories. It has wasted the last four years in internal squabbles. It has run irrelevant campaigns against the EEC and American missiles, instead of challenging the British bosses and their government at home.

_ Fight back t Labour promises a future every bit as bad as its past record.

LABOUR'S PROMISES

• No retum to full employment: the last Labour government doubled unemployment; the next promises to keep the numbers on the dole above one million indefinitely • Austerity: living standards fell under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan; Michael Foot's National Economic Assessment offers to hold wages down to keep British capital's profits up • Party of war: Labour backed the Tories all the way to the South Atlantic and now it wants to strengthen Britain's military might within NATO by building up conventional forces while cutting back on nuclear missiles; Labour is pledged to maintain the British occupation of Ireland • Law and order: the Labour Party is a staunch defender of strict immigration controls, firm policing and women's place at the kitchen sink. The recession and its consequences devastation and mass poverty, oppression and war - expose the dead end the existing system has reached. While half the world starves for lack of basic goods, the factories that could produce them are being shut down because capitalists cannot make a profit. But whether or not they can make a profit, we still need the products of industry and the jobs through which to earn a living.

The established political parties disagree only over how to make British capitalism profitable at our expense. But why should we pay the price for their recession?

go forward.

THE REAL ALTERNATIVEM

The Revolutionary Communist Party believes that there is an alternative, We believe that with the resources and technology at present available in the world a system of planned production could ensure that everybody has what they need. To build a better world we need to begin by getting rid of the system that at present holds back the further development of society and threatens millions with poverty and misery, death and destruction. The fight for the future begins from resistance to the Tory onslaught today.

To go forward, we have to hit back.

• No redundancies!: if a company cannot compete that is the capitalists' problem, workers still have to feed, house and clothe themselves and their families; if an employer cannot maintain the living standards of his workers, then the state must underwrite all jobs and wages. • Work or full pay!: the capitalist class must be forced to provide jobs - or full wages - for all workers, and to keep benefits at a level sufficient to maintain a decent livelihood. If they fail, then we will have to keep on fighting until we get a system which can provide for all our needs.

• Stop the war drive!: when Britain went to war against Argentina we stood for the defeat of British imperialism. We give full support to the national liberation struggle against Britain's occupation of Ireland.

• Defend our rights!: when the state attacks the unions, black people, the Irish, women, gays, the working class must take sides against the oppressor. Building a new world requires a new party.

The existing leadership of the labour movement in the Labour Party and the TUC is an obstacle to every attempt to defend Labour's working class interests. commitment to saving British capitalism means that it always betrays the working class. The RCP's only commitment is to the working class, its fight against the present system, and its future as the dominant power in society. Vote RCP on 9 June! Don't waste your vote on the parties of the past - fight back with the party of the future!

WE STAND FOR

• Work and a living wage; no to all redundancies; no concessions to productivity or profitability: trade unions that fight for the working class • A woman's right to work; free 241 hour nurseries; free contraception and abortion on demand • An end to all immigration controls, race checks, police harassment and racial discrimination • The immediate withdrawal of British troops from Ireland; self-determination for the Irish people; an end to the Prevention of Terrorism Act •Solidarity with anti-imperialist movements; working class action to disarm the bosses' state; an end to NATO and British withdrawal from the Malvinas.

Southwark and Bermondsey The February 1983 by-election exposed the rottenness of the Labour Party in Bermondsey. Now the Labour Party has ditched Peter Tatchell and a new candidate faces the sitting Liberal MP.

But the issues in Bermondsey have not changed. Unemployment is still rising: housing is still atrocious; there are still no nurseries for children; and black people still have to take second place in the queue for jobs and houses. The Liberals talk 'community politics.

The Labour Party talks 'community politics'.

Neither can do anything for the people of Farehk Afzal is a printworker. He was born in South London and lives and works in the area. He was a founding member of East London Workers Against Racism and stood in the 1981 council elections in East London on an ELWAR ticket, winning 500 votes.

I would like to know more about the RCP Name. Address. Trade Union/Org.. Tel. L Bermondsey because they both put the needs of the British 'community' before the needs of the working class.

The RCP fought the Bermondsey byelection on a programme of uncompromising resistance to Government attacks and with a determination to build a working class alternative to the Labour Party. We will be fighting the general election on the same platform.

NO RETURN TO THE PARTIES OF THE

PAST! FIGHT BACK WITH THE PARTY

OF THE FUTURE! VOTE RCP ON 9 JUNE!

Farehk Afzal He played as active part in Fran Eden's byelection campaign in February and is well known throughout South and East London as a fighter for working class interests, black rights and Irish freedom.

| Campaign I with the RCP Join the RCP in fighting back in face of Tory attacks and Labour's irrelevance! | Join our general election campaign team on the streets of Bermondsey!

Phone Ann Burton on 274 3951 for | details of meetings and canvassing.

P&P RCP, BM RCP, LONDON WIN 3XX.