Preparing for Power 1987

"POWER

Weekend Saturday 25 July and Sunday 26 July

BEYOND THE

GENERAL

ELECTION

the week, debates, music and entertainment, see inside election has opened a new era in British politics. The weekend at Preparing for Power will be largely devoted to discussing the consequences of the election outcome for the future of the working class.

For details on weekend workshops,' specialist courses running throughout

REVOLUTIONARY

SUMMER SCHOOL

Friday 24 to Friday 31 July University of London Union Preparing for Malet St, WC1 Saturday morning opening plenary Frank Richards on The working class in the Thatcher era Sunday afternoon sessions Mike Freeman, Mick Hume and Sabena Norton on Fighting back in Thatcher's third term

THE BATTLE FOR

THE NINETIES

For the past five years hundreds of people from Britain and abroad have gathered in London every summer for a week of discussion and debate about the state of the world and how to change it. This year Preparing for Power will following a few weeks after the most important election for 50 years. It will provide a forum for assessing the balance of class forces and for sharpening our understanding of how we can take on the battles ahead.

For some months it has been clear that the only question that would be decided on 11 June was the size of the Tory majority. In many ways, the contest between the mainstream parties of British politics had been settled even before the campaign opened. For eight vears Margaret Thatcher has triumphed over her opponents through her success in deminine the terms of politica debate. Despite her government's disastrous economc ecos succeeded in making law and order, prejudices against

THATCHER: LOOKING FORWARD TO A THIRD TERM

the trade unions, the defence of the nation, the family, and even the virtues of private enterprise, central themes of a new consensus. the extent to which all the opposition parties have adopted policies upholding firmer policing, higher military spending, family values and a mix ot bublic and brivate ownershio is a true measure of the achievement of the natcher years The Labour Party's attempts under Neil Kinnock to steal the Tories patriotic, militaristic and authoritarian clothes

KINNOCK: APPEAL TO MIDDLE CLASSES

guaranteed its failure long before polling day. The election campaign could only decide the scale of Labour's defeat and the role of the Alliance parties in the new parliament. The third Thatcher victory will be a heavy blow to the party, confirming its shrinking social and geographical base and chronically declining influence.

If another Tory victory is bad for the Labour leadership, it is catastrophic for the left. In 1983 the left could take refuge in its new power bases at the GLC, in Liverpool, Sheffield and in other municipal strongholds; its campaigns such as CND could still mobilise hundreds of thousands; it still had its broad-left groups in the unions, powerful friends like Arthur Scargill and Jimmy Knapp were riding high, and Tony Benn and Eric Heffer were still prominent figures on Labour's national executive Today the left's organisations are mere shells and its old leaders mere shadows of their former selves. All were conspicuous by their absence from Labour's election (pa/gm By retreating before Kinnock's attack, left gers thought they could dig in and live to

BENN: WHERE WAS HE IN THE ELECTION?

and that an influx of radical new MPs would give the left a new lease of life against a defeated leadership. refusal to challenge Kinnock has only reinforced its role as scapegoat for all Labour's failures. Acquiescing by its silence to the label of "loony', the left is destined to become the main victim of the election The events of the years between 1983 and 1987, culminating in the June election, have fully exposed the conflict between the strategies of the leaders of the official labour movement and the interests of the working class. In both the unions and the Labour Party, the labour bureaucrats have tried to save their own skins by coming to a closer accommodation with the representatives of British capital. In industry and services, union officials have been ready to negotiate rationalisation plans and in-house tenders which accept mass redundancies, inferior working conditions the effective withdrawal of the right to strike.

To retain token union membership and the

BRENDA DEAN: GHOS/ OF WAPPING

regular flow of dues to head office, union officials have sacrificed the jobs and rights of thousands of workers Meanwhile in the political arena Hattersley and Healey and the rest have adopted policies on the economy, public spending and trade union affairs which accept permanent mass unemployment, Wale Cores i sowel spending and state interference in union ballots and elections. In their desperate attempts to secure their own positions, the labour bureaucrats have adopted policies which can only accelerate the forces of division and demoralisation within the working class. Because the most politically active sections of the working class remain loval to Labour Kinnock's deteat is not down with it. But in the end the left's • such as Through The Red Front the - Labour is dragging the working class movement for

HATTERSLEY: PROMISES OF AUSTERITY

Early in 1987 the Revolutionary Communist Party issued an open letter to all left-wing organisations and individuals proposing the formation of The Red Front.

We appealed to others to join us in putting forward a slate of candidates to stand in the general election on a basic platform which put torward ine cause or working class unity. Our aim was to take advantage of the debate around the election to mobilise a core of resistance to the mounting capitalist offensive against the working class before, during and beyond the election itself In the event most of the surviving groupings of the far left put their fear of challenging Labourism at the polls before their torma commitment to bui ding a working class alternative. While many particular areas supported The Red Front the larger lett-wing organisations chose to campaign for the Labour Party. From the moment ine campaign opened, ine rent s much-vaunted hostility towards electoralism in general and Labour in particular vanished as its supporters became the most enthusiastic canvassers and flyposters for the party that paralyses the working class.

Revolutionary Communist Party has put down a marker in the 1987 general election.

At a time when the rest of the left is in abject retreat, we have pointed the way forward to unite and strengthen the working class for the battles ahead. While the electoral focus of The Red Front does not extend beyond 11 June, the wider project of building wring casterative t Labourism becomes even more important after the election Preparing for Power is the first step in carrying the approach of The Red Front beyond the general election. Our objective is to rally all those who want to fight back against the system and to forge them into a building a new form of society. Building The Red Front cannot mean simply realigning the remnants of the old left, or assembling together committed activists from the unions, the women's movement or other anti-establishment campaigns. The aim of The Red Front is to unite all those who are looking for new political solutions around a coherent anticapitalist outlook. Preparing for Power offers a forum in which to debate and clarify the policies we need to defend and advance the interests or the working class in the difficult time ahead The return of another Tory government will be a bitter blow to millions of Labour voters. Many will be responsive to the inevitable drive to make the party even more moderate and respectable and even more intolerant of left-wing policies or politicians. Others will feel despondent that Kinnock has made so manv concessions to the establishment and the media that the Some will conclude that the election results prove that there is no nope tor ine working class. The popular prejudice that all political parties and all politicians are equally corrupt will be strengthened. No doubt the Labour leaders will try to put on a brave face, and some left wingers will emerge to claim that the election debacle in election climate of gloom and confusion, new ideas and clear direction are more important than ever before. The Red Front has shown that it is possible to fight for working class policies at the polls. The air ot Preparing for Power is to share experiences, to challenge existing prejudices and thrash out solutions that measure up to the scale of the challenge facing the working class movement as we move towards the 1990s. Don't miss it!

VAUXHALL CONFRONTATION: LABOUR MI

STUART HOLLAND

ON RED

FRONT CHALLENGER KUNLE OLUREM

The Weekend Friday evening 24 July Three introductory talks • An absolute beginners guide to the RCP - Frank Richards • From the Sun to News on Sunday - Mick Hume • Moral panics in the age of Aids - Kate Marshall Saturday morning 25 july Opening plenary Frank Richards on The working class in the Thatcher era • Note that the opening plenary will take place at Friends House, Euston Road, not at the University of London Union, where the rest of Preparing for Power will be held. Saturday afternoon workshops • Striking against the Tories • The future of Thatcherism • The breakdown of twoparty politics • The Irish War in British politics • America in decline • The Red Front election campaign • Lessons of the Caterpillar occupation is it now? • The left after the election • British economy: the bulldog myth • Gorbachev and the West • Apartheid stabilised Saturday night

DANCE!

• Live music • Disco • Bar Sunday morning and early afternoon 26 July • Specialist courses begin - see below Sunday late afternoon sessions Mike Freeman, Mick Hume and Sabena Norton on Fighting back in Thatcher's third term Sunday evening • Workshops on culture, music and tilm Marxism revolution • Ideology beginners consciousness Soviet society • What is value? • Exploitation • Accumulation • The crisis and war Britain Thatcher era class Preparing for Specialist courses Specialist courses will begin on Sunday Courses 1 to and run through the week.

7 will take place in the morning from 10.30 to 12.30 and courses 8 to 14 will be held in the early afternoon from 2 to 4. Each course includes five scheduled sessions, running from Sunday to Thursday, but may be extended to take in a final session on Friday.

Introduction to • Historical materialism • Scientific socialism • Class struggle and • The revolutionary party Marxism for non- • What is dialectics? • The logic of Capital • History and logic • Class relations and class • The laws of motion of Introduction to Marxist economics • The state, imperialism The future for • Britain: the weak link in the Western order • A balance sheet of the • Britain's new working • Can Labourism survive? • Slaying the beast: a working class strategy Other strategies for revolution? • Utopias: non-Marxist visions of change • Anarchism • Bolsheviks and radicals in the 1905 revolution • The legend of Che Guevara • Amilcar Cabral and African socialism Crisis and revolution in Africa • The crisis in Africa • Apartheid capitalism • Western sabotage in southern Africa • Colonialism? The debate about race and class in South Africa • Black workers under Botha 7 Reformism and the left in Britain • British Empire and the rise of Labour • The brief flowering of British Marxism, 1914-18 • Sixty years of 'changing' the Labour Party • Labour and the left under Thatcher • Kicking the habit: The Red Front 8 Theories of imperialism • From Capital, Vol 3 to Lenin's Imperialism • Henryk Grossmann and Paul Mattick • Revisionism from Stalin to Boccara • Post-war debates on development and underdevelopment • Towards a contemporary theory of imperialism Western society in CrISIS • Reaction: what it is and how to fight it • The problems of the establishment • Middle class distress • The remaking of the working class • Revolution and the alternatives 10 power alliances the party 12 seventies Racism? Ireland Republic • The IRA freedom

DOZENS

Organising for • Leninism and the party • Rosa Luxemburg s concept of organisation • Gramsci's theory of class • Post-war debates about • The RCP's theory and practice of organisation The crisis of Marxism in Europe • The war and the destruction of Marxism • The radicals of 1968 • Urban guerrillas • A wasted decade: Trotskyism in the seventies • Breaking new ground Racism today • The roots of racism • Racism in British politics • Anti-racism since the • Black politics in Britain • Why Workers Against Women's liberation • Working class women • Housework and the family • Is nature the cause of women's oppression? • Or is it patriarchy? • Women in the trade unions - a debate The Irish War • Why Thatcher and Kinnock never debate • Loyalism: myth and reality • How Britain runs the Irish • British workers and Irish

OF WORK-

SHOPS & DEBATES

OPENING SESSION, PREPARING FOR POWER 1986

Transport Cheap coaches will be coming from all major British cities, arriving Friday evening Location The University of London is just off Tottenham Court Road in Central London. The nearest tube is Goodge Street. It has a swimming pool, sauna, gym, cafeteria, shop and bars. Make cheques payable to RCP Association and send to Preparing for Power, BM RCP, London

WC1N 3XX

Also available from this address: Full Preparing for Power programme - £1 (free with tickets) • Recommended reading for all specialist courses • Details of all workshops Children welcome bring and their ages. Accommodation bring a sleeping bag For more information, phone (01) 729 0414 A professionally run creche will be available throughout the week. Let us know how many children you want to and a of Let us know if you need somewhere to stay - and I need transport I need accommodation I need creche facilities Name Address Telephone number Organisation/trade union Number of children coming 86 Entertainment There will be a live concert on Saturday late-night disco on the last day Preparing for Power Postcode Price paid £22 waged €15 unwaged £10 for the weekend only Ages of children Q00•

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