Hands Off Grenada! supplement

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WAT

TOO VETCH

were of latin America Hands off Grenada! TO communist Special supplement November 1983 tinancial manoeuvres and Counter-insurgener and direct inter America and the Caribhean.

From British colony... THE USA IS NOT the first imperial power to send gunboats to Grenada.

1796 English an Abercromby invaded Grenada with force of 2000 troops and savagely crushed a slave rebellion led by Julien Fedon.

the resulting devastation a quarter of the island's slave population perished.

of British rule Grenada two centuries became independent' in 1974. Although its Prime Minister Eric Gairy was a British creaton ana tne isana remamned d member of the Commonwealth, Grenada came increasingly under American influence.

Maurice Bishop's seizure of power in 1979 alarmed the USA. mobilised Jewel Movement workers and peasants to back up the new Government's more independent against foreign domination.

feared the spread of Grenada's example and began to draw up the invasion plans which it finally put into action on 25 October. Reagan and the labelled Grenada a communist base, linked to Cuba and the Soviet Union and bent on subversion throughout the region.

Western the same have celebrated Bishop's Peoples Revolu- Government as a socialist model tionary of Third World development.

distorted the reality of Grenada under Bishop, the right to justify interference, the left as an excuse for its own failure to challenge imperialism home. Slave state The British ran Grenada from 1762 when they seized it from the French.

exported sugar from plantations based on slave labour. After slavery ceased to be profitable. Grenada became an impoverished colony where black and coloured sharecroppers and smallholders produced cocoa, nutmeg and other spices.

bananas became another key cash crop.

still The British firm treest monopoly over the Grenada banana trade that it established in the EPICA, Grenada, the peaceful revolution).

Although Grenada has built up a small commercial sector, linked to tourism and services, manufacturing has not developed In 1977 the largest plant on significantly. the island was a brewery employing 76 workers. Formany Grenadians emigration.

to the neighbouring islands and beyond has long been the only alternative to unemployment or under employment at home. The British authorities selected and house-trained Eric Gairy to run Grenada after he led a general strike in 1951.

Gairy's trade union became an arm of the colonial administration for 20 years before finally withdrew. Britain Britain imposed Gairy rather than face a more radical alternative.

the British strategy provoked strikes and bloody demonstrations against independence on the terms offered pendence under Gairy movement was led by the 'committee of 22' and brought together virtually every section of Grenadian society. It included the Rotary Club and the Churches and the newly-formed New for Welfare, Education and Endeavour Liberation) Movement of young middle intellectuals. class American-inspired strike-breaking ceeded in installing Gairy in February 1974. Gairy was popular in Washington and London, but widely detested in Grenada.

Through corruption and the brutality of his notorious 'mongoose gang' of criminal thugs businessmen fleet under General

NJM

The After tions Bishop's New Grenada's forces. stand Washington The Peoples right have Western At radicals Both have imperialist was still Bishop, was a Soviet Union. At first it ding with the IMF The New Later To strengthen fifties. (See had to seek back his independent "socialism', to strengthen the economy ministers In the end Paradoxically, - i.e. inde- The anti-Gairy Jewel (Joint British cash and Sue-

PACIFIC OCEAN

of patronage To American colony he kept the island secure for imperialism.

Even Grenada's plantation owners and were outraged by Gairy's interference in their agricultural marketing boards and his economic mismanagement confined its criticisms of Gairy to his incompetence, corruption, brutality - and his eccentric preoccupawith flying saucers and wearing badges. As class-wide opposition to Gairy gathered strength in the late 'seventies his Government became increasingly isolated. In March 1979 he left the country to attend a session of the United Nations' 'outer space legal subcommittee'. It took a small group of armed NJM activists only half an hour to overpower Gairy's armed That day the Peoples Revolutionary Government was proclaimed.

Building alliances Revolutionary Government of Grenada was something of a puzzle to Its pragmatic commentators. policies continually contradicted its radical rhetoric. In February of this year, the Economist Intelligence Unit's World Outlook observed that Mr Bishop of Grenada has emphasised that his government wishes to maintain links with its Caricom partners, Mexico and Venezuela and the EEC, in spite of its links with Cuba, Nicaragua, the USSR and Eastern Europe' On the eve of the US invasion the Sunday Times bemused: 'Grenada, under revolutionarv state with close ties to Cuba, East Germany and the But he had equally strong ties with the EEC, Canada and good stan- The explanation for this paradox lies in the subordination of Grenada to the imperialist system.

Movement Jewel regime sought to pursue a less subservient course in the world than that followed by Gairy.

his bargaining position with the USA and Britain, Bishop had to rally the workers and the youth of Grenada behind his Government and he friends abroad who would stand. Hence a movement, whose founding programme in 1973 made no mention of the word adopted the anti-imperialist and even anti-capitalist vocabulary of the Peoples Revolutionary Government.

At the same time, the New Jewel Movement never moved away from its middle class base and its all-class approach. Its aim was Grenadian a capitalist economy totally dominated by imperialism.

Hence the pragmatic approach of Bishop and his businessmen and foreign investors and bankers.

The New Jewel Movement mobilised the workers.

the peasants and the youth to back its limited challenge to imperialist control.

CARIBBEAN SEA

Colombia Grenada under imperialism But the US government recognised in these forces a mortal threat to its power throughout the suppress. The Bishop Government reformed the taxation system, rooted out much of the graft and corruption of the Gairy years and introduced a bold programme of welfare reforms. In a short period of time it improved workers' living standards. It embarked on a programme of seeking to popularise the Government's policies by means of mass consultation exercises. Disaffected youth and Rastafarians were drafted into the Peoples Revolutionary Army. ment made no moves to expropriate Grenada's capitalists. Even the limited proposals for nationalisation of banks, companies and hotels NJM's 1973 in the quetly sneived takeover in 1979 Bishop's deputy Bernard Coard explained the new Government's priorities as 'not the building of socialism, quite frankly, but simply trying to get the economy, which has been totally shattered by Gairy, back on its feet' (Race and Class No 2. 1979). The Chamber of Commerce welcomed the new Government as a glorious opportunity for Grenada to build something new and different in the Caribbean' (quoted in Cohen, Crisis in the Caribbean). For all its socialist rhetoric the Peoples Revolutionary Government was explicit in its commitment to the capitalist economy.

As The Times recently observed of Coard.

he is 'considered an ardent Marxist-Leninist, but his economic pronouncements expressed a commitment to maintaining a healthy private sector ina mixedeconomy' The NJM Government pursued a similar approach to international affairs.

proclaimed that Grenada was in 'nobody's backyard' and identified himself the 'non-aligned' Rut he remained recentive to countries. foreign investors in Grenada: We are convinced that there are many civilised investors with sympathy for our point of view, who are not greedy and will be prepared to negotiate suitable terms with us.

numve hanny to nunes with such neanle (Interview in West Indian Digest, March 1980) In 1981 the NJM joined the Socialist International. a loose federation of reformist parties, dominated by the big Euro socialist movements. rationale was pragmatic: the organisation, he said, 'offers our party one more oppor tunity of diversifying our relations with political forces around the world.

governments of various countries the (Interview in World Marxist Review, April 1982) Bishop was more concerned with

ATLANTIC OCEAN

se Vi neera Barbados Grenadao Lor Trinidad region that it had to year Bishop tions against the and Concons 'grassroots democracy' mists But the Governaid. programme were Grenada, Shortly after the NJM weak Ambursley and recession. Coard Bishop property'. with bloc of Third World the Third World. We are capitalism socials Bishop's with jection country its leaders. against the USA. • or Canadian the USA neh Chulan: nada. them here in Britain. winning EEC aid than with gestures of socialist internationalism.

Earlier this spent a fruitless week in Washington attempting to overcome US hostility and win aid and investment.

Persistent American and British sanc- Bishop Government pushed it into forming closer ties with Cuba, the Soviet Union and the Arab world. Several radical Arab regimes helped to finance Grenada's 20-year project to build a decent tourist airport.

The Sovie Union signed a few minor trade deals and sent experts from the Soviet planning ministry Gosplan to advise NJM econoa dubious contribution given their performance at home. Cuba provided construction workers and some military The limitations of Soviet and Cuban militarv involvement in Grenada became While apparent during the US invasion Cuban workers fought heroically to defend the Cuban Government had neither the resources nor the military A few Soviet capability to assist them.

rifles and bullets were the best 'evidence' the USA could subsequently produce for Reagan's paranoid fantasy about a base for communist subversion.

Grenada was neither a communist nor a Soviet-Cuban base. It was a relatively Third World country trying to achieve a modest degree of capitalist development in the teeth of the world It seems that the pressures resulting from Grenada's isolation led to the coup that ousted Bishop and provided the immediate pretext for the invasion While the course of events remains obscure one thing is clear: there was no substantial political difference between Bishop and who apparently led the faction that ousted him. In 1979 Coard declared that with the revolution has come the end to the forcible seizure of people's Unconditional support While Reagan deludes himself with communist conspiracies many British radicals view the NJM Government as part of the unfolding of a revolutionary process' in This ignores the NJM's own statements of its limited objectives The Bishop regime set out to stabilise in Grenada, Its socialist rhetoric aimed to win popular approval (and raise produc tivity) at home and influence rich (or at least richer friends abroad.

Many socialists in Britain prefer to cheer on 'progres sive forces' in the Third World rather than take on the reactionary forces at home that keep countries like Grenada in sub- The Revolutionary Communist Party does not have to pretend that Maurice Bishop was a Lenin to give our unequivocal support to his Government and his people against American and British bar- We give unconditional backing to dominated by imperialism irrespective of the political complexion of We supported General Galtieri of Argentina against Britain and we have no hesitation in backing Bishop or Coard Whatever the failings of the NJM and whatever the outcome of the power struggle within its leadership we can be sure that the future of the people of Grenada will be a hundred times worse under direct American, British - imperialist domination The forces unleashed by the New Jewe revolution terrified the Reagan regime in and they can still liberate Gre We must do what we can to helr Mick Hume

Labour backs Britain 'ON A MATTER of this kind', Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey liament on the day of the US invasion of Grenada, 'it is still possible for more than one view to be held'. was that the British Government was torn between its loyalty to the NATO alliance and its particular concern to preserve Britain's national interests.

squirmed under the burden of this difaithful but stayed lemma. American allies. there was no dilemma Britain first. Labour castigated the Tories for subordinating Britain to the USA and stridently asserted the of British imperialism. Margaret Thatcher only learned of the planned assault from Ronald Reagan when the marines virtually on the beaches of Grenada.

British Government was embarrassed the USA's invasion of a member of the Commonwealth and offended by the lack of consultation from Washington.

Thatcher's Falklands glory, Grenada was a blow to British prestige.

cial Times commented, it revealed the limits not only of British power, but of British influence' Britain expect? Telegraph observed in an editorial entitled 'Embarrassing' that 'after withdrawal from the region we complete have no right to expect to influence events in the Caribbean' was inevitable and on the whole desirable that the US should have filled the vacuum This was the consensus of which we left'. the British establishment. Behind a facade of affronted imperial dignity, it gave its approval to US militarism in the Caribbean, where Britain once ruled supreme The British ruling class nas whole, come to terms with playing second fiddle to the USA on the Second World War declining Since the Britain has come to rely more and more on its superpower ally. policeman in parts of the world where the on the Empire, but where Britain vital trade investments. Indeed The Timesconsidered it reassuring for Britain that the USA has shown itself willing to lise force; this display of military might may provide a useful salutory warning in some quarters'.

Thatcher was stung by critics support for Reagan over Grenada into stating the broader rationale for her Government's allegiance to the USA: We stand by the United States and wetontinue to do so in the larger alliance. The United States is the final guarantor of freedom in Europe.' Thatcher's backing for Reagan's invasion indicates her recognition of the sA's role as the ultimate guarantor of imperialist interests world-wide.

Labour and imperialism Britain's deference to American power is reflected in its complicity in the campaign against Grenada. Wate remained in the Commonwealth, Britain hascooberatedn against the Bishop regime, cutting aid from £300000 in 1979-80 to £57000 in 1982-83 The British Government with the USA in setting up the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, and backed the aim of fostering a regional Lord Carrington visited defence force'. the area in 1980 and approved the supply of British weapons and British military advisors to Barbados and St. Vincent, the two islands closest to Grenada.

ber the OECS provided the fig leaf of an Howe told Par- What Howe meant The Tories to their For the Labour Party • t aways Duls independent role her good friend The After As the Finan- Yet what more could The Tories' loyal Daily our almost It concluded that it destroyer Colombian Coast. on the British for world stage. calling the pieces. The USA acts as links and Sir Paul Scoon, the people of Grenada. of her imperial Britain. Grenada has econome concene collaborated particularly not observed Sir Paul Scoon. In Octo- Britain and the Grenada invasion Tories back America Denis Healey: uniting the Labour Party behind British imperialist interests 'invitation' to the US marines and Barbados provided a local base.

The British

HMS

observed the operation from a few miles away, off the The blood of Grenada is on British as much as American hands.

Britain may still have a role to play in the subjugation of Grenada.

Now that America's vastly superior firepower has attacked the popular movement, some politicians and newspapers are Commonwealth 'peacea keeping' force to be drafted in to pick up Such a force could help enforce a new system of government more acceptable to the imperialist powers Whether after the carnage of October.

backed by American, Commonwealth or United Nations troops, the British authorities have put forward Governor-General the last vestige of the Empire, to do his best in establishing a new form of imperialist domination over Britain may be a junior partner in the rape of Grenada, but its commitment cannot be questioned.

While the dominant counsels of the British state swallowed their wounded patriotic pride and fell in behind Reagan.

the Labour Party took up the cause of Labour in Parliament condemned the US invasion of Grenada, not because it was an assault on the rights and freedoms of the Grenadian people, but because it was an insult to Britain.

While American marines trampled through Grenada, Labour foreign affairs spokesman Denis Healey complained that the British people will not relish the spectacle of the British Prime Minister allowing President Reagan to walk all over her' This seems a dubious proposition.

But Healey had an even greater concern than the dignity of the Prime Minister.

He was outraged that a foreign state' had invaded a Commonwealth country subject to Her Majesty the Queen', and that the British Government had only been informed as the invasion was taking place. Healey was aggrieved that Reagan had constitutional proprieties regarding the Queen's stooge in Grenada, He accused Thatcher of a lack of 'grit', 'fibre' and resolution' in defending Britain's honour and of 'failing in her duty to the Commonwealth and failing in her duty to the Palace'.

Thatcher proclaimed an uneasy loyalty to her NATO ally, Healey banged the drum for Britain, the Commonwealth, Majesty the Queen, and her esteemed Governor-General of Grenada.

Healey's performance in the House of Commons galvanised the parliamentary Labour Party in admiration.

of the issues and the harshness of his invective he far outshone both party leader Neil Kinnock and his deputy Roy Hattersley. Healey has been meddling in Latin American and Caribbean politics through Labour's international connections for the past 30 years superior British secret service agent, he knows many of the local rulers personally and is well-placed to identify British interests. His display rhetoric over the US invasion was unequalled in Parliament since Michael Foot urged Thatcher to despatch the Falklands Task Force 18 months ago. Now, as then the left was rendered speechless by the patriotic oratory of the party leadership.

Backbench newcomer Jeremy could only feebly echo Healey by describing hatchers the USA as pathetic and demeaning' The Labour Party can still roar like a British lion to condemn Thatcher as Reagan's obedient poodle. Labour's strident found another ally in the House Commons in right-wing Unionist MP Enoch Powell. has upbraided Labour left MPs who have retreated from the virulent hostility to the EEC for which he once respected them.

But Labour's defence of British sovereignty over the Grenada issue restored Powell's faith in the chauvinist commitment of the Labour Party. USA could not be trusted over Grenada, then it could not be trusted over the control of cruise missiles in Britain, was applauded to the echo by the Labour left.

According to Powell the 'United Kingdom' had become 'something horribly resembling a satellite of the United States'; he called upon the British Government to 'pursue alone its duty to United Kingdom interests. There is little nationalism. Outside toreign Caribbean. USA's action MOTe rights, and 1m Deralism When Rritain Rritain 's While every continent. exploitation, Her tion. centuries. of many In his grasp the the new Grenada of As a sort of of millions chauvinist of Corbyn accommodation to Americar anti-Americanisn of rights. In recent months Powell lism. His assertion that if the least in the Caribbean. to US militarism. choose to between Labour's response to the Grenada Powell's and xenophobic Tony Parliament Benn has long been a champion of an independent policy for Britain. Only days before the US invasion, he devoted his regular Guardian column to a discussion of Britain's alliances and weapons.

His the me was 'Britain's need to disengage itselt from its subordination to the US While Powell moved from Grenada to the missiles, Benn moved from Cruise to the For him, a few days later, the the question of raised "Britain's future as a self-governing country enjoying the right to determine its own foreign and defence policy'.

Benn's alter native is for Britain to move towards a non-aligned position' he reckons, 'might allow us to play a more constructive role with others, in the search for world peace, development and human in the process, restore selfgovernment to Britain itself'.

This argument truly demeans the labour movement it is a grotesque apology for British End British barbarism! fully self-governing was independent and non-aligned it had an Empire which stretched around the earth "constructive role' was to rob and rape and murder in every corner of The Caribbean provides a classic example: genocide, slavery, superrepression, piracy, corrup- _ for the best part of three And, contrary to the prejudices Benn's admirers British ot imperialism is not confined to history What contribution to world peace' did Falklands Task Force make?

What sort of 'development' has Britain fostered in the plantations of Sri Lanka, the mines of South Africa or the banana groves of - in all of which British capitalists still squeeze the sweat and blood out impoverished workers? And what concern has Britain for the 'human rights who live in terror unde British-backed regimes around the world?

Britain is a powerful and rapacious imperialist power. It has been superceded by the USA and others, but it retains major holdings overseas and one of the biggest armed forces in the world to help sustain them. Britain is nowhere a force for peace and progress: the only positive contribution it can make is to get off the backs of the peoples of the Third World and stop interfering in their affairs.

The Labour Party wants to take advantage of Grenada to barbarism promote the cause of Britain's indepen- What is even dent imperialist interests.

worse, it seeks to portray vicious British imperialism as a progressive force, disguising its savage practice with fine phrases about 'peace', 'development' and 'human The British labour movement has no interest in supporting Britain's indepen- The dent role as an imperialist power.

Commonwealth is nothing more than Britain's slice of the Third World, and the Queen, the figurehead of British imperia- These are symbols of oppression and exploitation around the world, not The Grenadian War calls for labour movement opposition It equally demands that British workers act to stop British complicity with the USA and that they repudiate Labour's drive to corrupt their solidarity with Grenada into support for flagging British imperialism.

Mike Freeman

Published by Junius Publications Ltd (TU), BCM JP LTD, London WC1N 3XX. Printed by Morning Litho Printers Ltd (TU), 439 North Woolwich Road, London E16.

THE

UNITED

STATES'

Grenada is its first act of direct military affairs interference in the country since the Vietnam War.

the biggest row provoked Western alliance since Britain's occupation of the Suez Canal in 1956.

conflict opens a new phase in the drive towards World War Three. President Reagan ordered his marines into Grenada less than a week after 250 American soldiers were blown to pieces in Lebanon, on the other side of the world The Beirut bombing dramatically summed up the plight of US foreign policy.

claiming a global crusade against communism, US forces shelled the Chouf mountains from the Eastern Mediterranean and Beirut occupied under 'multinational peace-keeping force'.

neither the Druze villagers of the Chouf, nor the Shiite Moslems who claimed responsibility for the audacious bomb attack in Beirut are communists, or backed the Soviet Union. by justifications for US militarism appeared increasingly unconvincing. troops began to pay the price for US interference in the Middle East morass.

As 1983 drew to a close the USA abroad looked a sorry signt.

the Ayatollah Khomeini humiliated President Carter over the Iranian hostage crisis nothing seemed 1n America's protracted attempts to reconcile Israel and the Arabs had come to nothing.

It had been embarrassed by Britain over the Malvinas and by France over Chad.

The USA's insistence on installing a new generation of missiles in Europe had provoked massive anti-American demonstrations in virtually every And the US drive to exert its influence in Central America had succeeded only in of conflict the sphere winning. Nicaragua to El Salvador to Honduras and Guatemala and even to Costa Rica.

gan desperately needed a result somewhere, anywhere, to show the As The Times commented USA still ruled. the day after the Grenada invasion, 'many will feel that Mr Reagan was unduly influenced by the frustration his administration has felt at being unable to win any visible victories in its struggle against communism'. Where better than a tiny island within a secure US sphere of influence for America to display its military might? Recession and rearmament The chaos wrought by the world recession draws the armies of the West towards intervention in the Third World. Twenty years ago the Western powers could give up their colonies and, while the world economy expanded, still maintain their grip over Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Even during the past decade of deepening crisis the West could sustain the imperialist order through local proxies directives. But that was before the Shah of Iran fell and Mexico and Brazil announced their inability to repay their massive debts. The Newly Industrialising Countries are now racked by unemployment and mass protests and brutal reaustenty. pression. From Manila in the Phillipines the old order is crumbling fast. capitalist countries from El Salvador.

through Chad to Pakistan, recession and climatic disasters are combining to push millions towards starvation popular resistance meets savage from Western-backed regimes.

imperialist powers are obliged to reassert control by direct military interference.

invasion of of another It has within the The Grenada PrOthe guise of a But While Reagan's American ments against Third rearming fast. Fver since diture devoted to right. to go

EEC

control of the from Reassary, including military force.

world that the rity. build-up ened. at Lyneham. assembled a frappe'. and IMF military Santiago in Chile to regime in Lebanon. In the more backward masses of the Third World.

Growing terror Today the next step Conflict in NATO: take sides against imperialism, not with Europe against America!

To safeguard their trade and investthe rising wrath of the World all the Western powers are The USA leads the way the biggest share of the increased expenbudget is ints 1984 detence strengthening conventional army, navy and air forces.

The centrepiece of the USA's global strategy is the Rapid Deployment Force, now 400 000strong with new bases in Oman, Somalia, Kenya and Egypt from which to launch crack troops into any part of the Middle In 1980 President Carter proclaimed the doctrine on which the RDF was based: 'Any attempt by an outside force to gain Gulf region will be Persian regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the US. It will be repelled by any means nece- Reagan has since doubled the size of the RDF and given it a new command autho- He has boosted the US Special Forces - the infamous Green Berets of Vietnam notoriety - and added three new aircraft carriers to the US fleet.

Britain too has joined the military Fresh from its Falklands' triumphs, the Navy has been spared threatened cuts and its fleet has been strength- The RAF's capacity for long range operations has been significantly extended by its acquisition of six Tristar aeroplanes from Lockheed. The revitalised Spearhead Batallion of 2000 men stands in readiness The French - controversial suppliers of Exocets to Argentina and super Etendard fighters to Iraq - have formidable conventional force de force alongside their nuclear The carve up In recent months, the NATO allies have shown that they are prepared to use their their hardware guarantee TO interests in the Third World. Britain lashed out at Argentina; France sent paratroopers into Chad and the Allies have linked arms to try to crush resistance to their puppet Up to now the Western powers have marched more or less together in the drive to suppress the But conflicts have simmered beneath the surface. Both the USA and the European powers had South their reservations about Britain's Atlantic adventure. Mitterand and Reagan fell out over Chad and again over Lebanon.

The greatest strife, however, has been Stop the warmongers! over the broader problems of the Middle East and Central America. In both regions the European powers only respect US hegemony and resent being squeezed out of the action The EEC's recognition of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation since 1980 and America's continuing Israel indicate radically divergent approaches to the central conflict of the Middle East. Reagan has condemned the Sandinista Government in FMLN guerrillas in El Salvador as agents of Moscow Havana. and France has sold arms to the Sandinistas and given recognition to the El Salvador guerrillas. Grenada has brought these conflicts right out into the open. Reagan's latest action, the French Government resented US attempts to block EEC aid to Grenada. In 1981 foreign minister Claude Cheysson interference talks 1n Grenada's tourist airport: What America thinks is of no importance.

Let us forget about the Americans.

decision for the EEC and Grenada.

When the US marines invaded, Mitterand's Government declared its condemnation'. West German Government was scarcely less critical, calling for 'the return of sovereignty and the restoration of human Every other European power but rights'. Britain took a similarly anti-US line.

Even in Britain there were influential voices less prepared to forgive the Americans than were the Tories.

wing of the establishment was mortified at the way Britain's senior ministers had been humiliated. The bitter: 'Our views - when offered - were of no Our expertise in the Caribbean was account. utter v disregarded: And twisted: 'America's friends over many decades - like this newspaper - can only watch in anguish.

The New Statesman, militaristic rhetoric officials, observed that if such attitudes continue to dominate American foreigr policy, the post-war Western alliance will disintegrate' 'An end to the special relationship', declared the Financial Times.

The liberal voice of British business wanted a more independent foreign policy which could give looked towards Europe: European policies.' aligned remains the liberals. Soviet Union. Third World. Union in the 'forties. Germany grudgingly increasingly relations close links with their LO Nicaragua and the Meanwhile indicates base powerful weapon. Even before US curtly dismissed over loans for scheme for Colombia and Panama. terms of the USA. 'unequivocal More significantly, the •ooressors reactionary Nations solution. The liberal accent ot the riler US Guardian was Their invasion The outraged by the in Ireland. of US Government pendent in Ireland. Britain greater weight in its dealings with over-weening America.

*The more the US indulges in ill-considered unilateral actions the more essential it is that allies should concert their Grenada has intensified the economic rivalries and political conflicts that now threaten to tear NATO apart.

The notion of an independent Britain with Europe against the USA preserve of exasperated Up to now the USA has succeeded in rallying not only Britain, but most of Europe to its side in opposition to the This is why the crusade against communism is so vital to the USA in its dealings with both Europe and the The USA compensates for its declining economic power by insisting on the primacy of the political and military relationships it first imposed on the world in the Cold War against the Soviet The arrival of US cruise and Pershing missiles in Britain and confirms Reagan's success in holding NATO together by raising once again the spectre of a Soviet invasion of Europe. As the Financial Times conceded after its outburst of anti-American sentiment, 'on the central issue of East-West European members of the NATO have no alternative but to cleave most indispensable securit guarantee, the alliance with the United States'. The fact that Reagan can convince not only millions of Americans, but also millions of Europeans of the absurd proposition that Grenada was a Cuban-Soviet the usefulness of this War and the RCP The liberal dream of an independent Britain in an anti-American alliance with Europe is the guiding vision of radical and anti-war circles in Britain.

Thus a group of left-wing Labour MPs is backing the 'peace' in Central America promoted by the EEC and fronted by the Contadora group of Mexico, Venezuela, But in reality this is a scheme for 'peace' in the region on the terms of Europe rather than on the The masses of the region, who have long experience of exploitation at the hands of European as well as American imperialists, will find little to choose between the rival bands of A Commonwealth (British) or EEC peace in Grenada would be just as or United as any mencan Imperialist domination is imperialist domination, whatever the In the same week as the Shites of Beirut launched their bomb attack on the marines and the marines launched Grenada, 250 000 people marched in London against the threat of a future nuclear war in Europe.

Revolutionary Communist Party demonstrated with a banner which read: If you want peace - fight against war It listed the wars we have actively campaigned against - in the Malvinas, Chad.

Lebanon, and, most importantly, the war Our fight begins at home in a challenge to British imperialism.

We do not back British or European imperialism We in preference to US imperialism.

denounce Britain's complicity with the USA over Grenada, its open partnership with the USA in Lebanon and its indebarbarism in the Malvinas and