The Socialist 18 October 2002

Pay The Firefighters

"THERE ARE firefighters sleeping on fire station floors and commuting very long distances literally across the country as they cannot afford to live on their wages," says Dean Mills, regional secretary Southern Region FBU and operational firefighter for 19 years

OVER 200 killed and hundreds more maimed was the terrible result of the terrorist bomb attack on the island of Bali in Indonesia.

THE HORRIFIC bomb attack on the Indonesian island of Bali has underscored the futility of George W. Bush's 'war on terrorism'.

After The Bali Bombings: THE HORRIFIC bombings at the nightclubs in Bali have left up to 300 Australians dead, the biggest toll since the Vietnam War. The victims were overwhelmingly young people, mainly working-class youth on end of season football tours or once-in-a-lifetime holidays. By Steve Jolly, Socialist Party, Australia

Seattle: ON 6 October, the national day of action called by the Not In Our Name project, 7,000 people from Seattle protested the US war plans. It was a youthful crowd, many working class and middle class families, mostly white. More ...

New York: THE NEW York Socialist Alternative branch participated on 6 October in the largest anti-war rally in NYC since the Gulf war in 1991. Up to 20,000 joined the Not In Our Name demo.

Minneapolis: AROUND 1,500 protested at the downtown federal building in Minneapolis on 13 October. According to long-time anti-war organisers, this is the biggest turn-out in years.

On The Brink Of Nuclear War: EARLIER THIS year Pakistan and India came to the brink of war over their occupation of Kashmir. The possibility of nuclear weapons being used, killing millions, loomed large. Comparisons were made with the 'Cuban missile crisis' of 40 years ago.

JANE JAMES looks at what happened in October 1962 and how close the United States and the Soviet Union then came to a nuclear war.

Socialist Party members have found an enthusiastic response on activity in the universities and colleges this term. More ...

Sheffield: FOR THE second year running Freshers' Fairs have taken place to the sound of beating war-drums. Overwhelming opposition to Bush and Blair's plans on Iraq means a constant flow of students to sign our petitions and discussion around our stalls.

London: "I'm a socialist and I'm looking for a socialist organisation." This was the way one student at the London School of Economics introduced himself to the Socialist Students' stall at the Freshers' Fair.

Coventry: At Coventry University, the Socialist Party has a high profile due to years of campaigning against tuition fees, and in the last year against the war on Afghanistan and threatened invasion of Iraq.

THE BOMBING of a tourist area on the Indonesian island of Bali has been blamed by Western governments on the Jemaah Islamiah Islamic group with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida terrorist network.

Letter to The Observer

Dear Sir, If Militant (now the Socialist Party) had really been a “sect” and “loathed by voters and most people in the Labour Party” (Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer, 13 October 2002) we would not have generated as much interest from journalists like him nor would I have been interviewed in the 1980s on TV programmes he fronted.

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Pay The Firefighters

"THERE ARE firefighters sleeping on fire station floors and commuting very long distances literally across the country as they cannot afford to live on their wages," says Dean Mills, regional secretary Southern Region FBU and operational firefighter for 19 years

"The 4% pay rise we've been offered is worth 25p/hour for whole time firefighters after stoppages. For retained firefighters it's worth 0.6% on their retaining fee, after stoppages.

"What we're asking for is £30,000 a year, which is £8.50 an hour. That's not much when you consider we don't get shift allowances, unsociable hours or weekend working payments. We're on £21,500 for a 42-hour week.

"We pay 23% tax, 10% National Insurance and 11% for our pension. The government say people should be prudent and prepare for the future. We're being prudent by paying 11% of our wages for our pension, but we're being punished for that because our take-home pay is low.

"At the moment the country is divided into four areas according to the risk to property and the fire service is funded according to those categories. If you're in London, you're in Zone A and you should get two fire engines to a fire in five minutes and one in eight minutes. If you're in an area assessed to be low risk you get one fire engine in 20 minutes.

"We've said we should be funded according to the risk to life not property but the government have said that will cost too much.

"So it's no good them criticising us for striking and putting lives at risk. It's them who won't fund the service on the basis of life risk.

"As far as trying to use troops to provide fire cover in a strike, we don't want soldiers to be sent to Iraq to get killed. But we also don't want soldiers to be killed because they haven't been sufficiently trained to do our job.

"It takes four years to qualify as a firefighter so how do they expect soldiers to take over after a few weeks training?

"The army aren't going to give me a tank and say: 'Use this mate, you've had a bit of training'. And I don't expect the RAF to give me a Harrier jump jet either.

"We as firefighters have to develop new skills and adapt old ones. As our knowledge and ability grows, why does our pay fall in real terms?

"We are not asking for a rise of 200-300% as we have seen among councillors in the last few years. We are not asking for the eight-fold increase in pay MPs have seen since 1977.

"We don't want annual bonuses, big enough to buy us a house, like stockbrokers. But we do want a fair rate of pay for the job. Is that really too much to ask?"

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No To War And Terror

OVER 200 killed and hundreds more maimed was the terrible result of the terrorist bomb attack on the island of Bali in Indonesia.

The Socialist condemns this attack and the methods of terrorism as we did after 11 September. Tony Blair has responded by saying that he will "root out" international terrorism. But his policy of slavishly backing Bush's war plans against Iraq will have the opposite effect of fuelling terrorism around the world.

War in Afghanistan killed thousands of innocent civilians but totally failed to 'root out' terrorism.

Although he is a brutal dictator, there is no evidence to link Saddam Hussein to this or any other terrorist act internationally. Even CIA officials have accused Bush of "cooking up" information to try and win support for a war against Iraq. A leaked CIA letter stated that Saddam poses little threat now and that an invasion could push him into retaliating with chemical or biological weapons.

War against Saddam would be a war for oil and a pretext for the US to assert its economic and military dominance internationally. This would be at the terrible cost of thousands of lives lost and worldwide economic and political instability. It would increase poverty, inequality, oppression, insecurity and a feeling of injustice - the very conditions that push people towards terrorism in the first place.

It's only by 'rooting out' these conditions that we can rid the world of war and terror. That means fighting to change the capitalist system and replace it with a democratic socialist society.

Only 'System Change' Can End Terror And War

THE HORRIFIC bomb attack on the Indonesian island of Bali has underscored the futility of George W. Bush's 'war on terrorism'.

Over 200 people, mostly Western tourists, have been killed and hundreds horribly injured in what looks like the biggest terrorist incident since 11 September. The finger of suspicion has pointed to Jemaah Islamiah, a right-wing Islamic group which is alleged to have links with al-Qa'ida.

Whether or not al-Qa'ida was associated with the attack, it's clear that its network is functioning internationally and that war in Afghanistan - which resulted in as many as 8,000 civilian deaths - has done nothing to lessen the threat of terrorism.

US imperialism

While implacably condemning terrorist methods, The Socialist opposed the war in Afghanistan. We explained that the war wasn't about fighting terrorism but defending the global power and prestige of US imperialism. "US imperialism hopes to take advantage of the 11 September attacks... to assert itself around the globe in defence of its own interests" (The Socialist 12 Oct 2001). With plans for a war against oil-rich Iraq gathering pace, US imperialism's aim of worldwide economic, political and military domination is clearer than ever.

We also pointed out that attacking Afghanistan would have a destabilising effect throughout Asia and the Middle East, fomenting the very terrorism that the war was supposedly meant to end.

Unfortunately that perspective is now being borne out. This latest bombing in Bali was preceded by an attack on a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen and the shooting of a US Marine in Kuwait earlier in the same week.

Violence and unrest continue to plague Afghanistan, while in neighbouring Pakistan there have been several recent attacks on Western civilians. Now an Islamic coalition, which includes right-wing groups, appears to have won control of two provinces bordering Afghanistan and could hold the balance of power nationally.

If Bush goes ahead with a military attack on Iraq the global repercussions will be even more serious. The war would, in the words of the secretary of the Arab League, "open the gates of hell". It would massively fan the flames of anti-US, anti-western imperialism sentiments throughout the Arab and Muslim world and act as a recruiting sergeant for terrorist groups internationally.

Anti-war movement

In his TV address to the US on 7 October, Bush said that war was not "imminent or unavoidable". But the countdown to war and 'regime change' continues. The pro-war Economist called it his "scariest speech to date" (12 Oct). The military build up in the Gulf is escalating and Congress has given Bush the green light to proceed with military action, with or without UN authorisation.

"But", continued the Economist "Mr Bush should not let himself be beguiled by such institutional successes into believing that he has now won his battle in the wider court of world opinion. He hasn't".

That was clear in Britain on 28 September when up to 400,000 people protested against war with Iraq. In the US, support for war has fallen from 57% to 53%. When asked about unilateral military action a majority are opposed. An anti-war demonstration in New York on 6 October attracted over 20,000 protesters.

Even a section of the Democrats, who have tried to avoid the question of Iraq because they were worried that it would damage their electoral prospects in the mid-term elections on 5 November, have had to give a certain voice to the unease that many Americans feel about military action.

Bush has had little success in his campaign to link Saddam with al-Qa'ida and terrorism internationally. This latest attack in Bali will increase opposition from those like defeated Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, who think that attacking Iraq is a 'distraction' from the war against terrorism. Yet, Bush will undoubtedly try to use the attack to justify a war strategy.

However, the US does not have a clear road to war. Whatever the twists and turns over the next weeks and months, the anti-war movement has the potential to develop further into a substantial force in Britain and internationally. Making the 31 October day of action as successful as possible (see page 8) should be the next step for all those who are opposed to a war with Iraq.

Many will want to go further and fight to change the system as a whole. As The Socialist explained on 12 October last year: "Under capitalism it is not possible to rid the world of terrorism and conflict. Even if the US succeeds in capturing bin Laden and destroying his bases in Afghanistan, the conditions which give rise to terrorism - poverty, corruption and oppression - will still remain.

"War, poverty, violence and instability are rooted in the very nature of this class-ridden system, which is based on exploitation, inequality and the ruthless pursuit of profit. It's only by eradicating capitalism worldwide that these horrors can be ended."

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After The Bali Bombings

Australians say "no military solution"

THE HORRIFIC bombings at the nightclubs in Bali have left up to 300 Australians dead, the biggest toll since the Vietnam War. The victims were overwhelmingly young people, mainly working-class youth on end of season football tours or once-in-a-lifetime holidays.

Steve Jolly, Socialist Party, Australia

Other casualties include the Indonesian nightclub staff who died and were injured. The local tourist industry will be wrecked, probably forever, after these attacks. Tens of thousands of Indonesian workers will be left unemployed without any social security.

Australia is in collective shock. The world events that many ordinary people thought themselves immune from have now caught up with them.

John Howard's right-wing Federal government will try and use the attacks to bolster its support for Bush's war on Iraq. Right-wing extremists will try and whip up racism with attacks on local Muslims and even anti-Iraq war activists.

However the mood amongst ordinary people is not the same as it was in the US after the 11 September attacks last year.

News of the bombings reached most Australians on the Sunday morning, yet that afternoon - 13 October - 35,000 marched in Melbourne against a war on Iraq.

The massive crowd honoured the Bali dead with a minute's silence, agreeing with speakers who explained that there was no military solution to the social problems that breed support for terrorism.

The Socialist Party in Australia argues that Howard's blind support for Bush's 'war on terrorism' and the upcoming war on Iraq, makes ordinary people targets for terrorist retaliation.

We must support those workers, students and poor farmers in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Indonesia who are fighting against imperialist domination of their countries and for a democratic, secular and socialist future.

We reject the idea that the only option is either US domination or the ideas of Islamic fundamentalism. We stand for democratic socialism and the rights of all nations and peoples to self-determination

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Anti-War Mood Is Growing In The USA

Seattle

ON 6 October, the national day of action called by the Not In Our Name project, 7,000 people from Seattle protested the US war plans. It was a youthful crowd, many working class and middle class families, mostly white.

The enormous turnout with very little organising is a testament to how many people are opposed to this war. There are many doubts on many Americans' part about whether this war is a good idea. And it's not just a Seattle thing because similar-sized protests happened in major cities all around the country that day.

81 people wanted more information on Socialist Alternative, (the Socialist Party's US counterpart) 14 checking the "I-want-to-join" box on our sign-up sheets. We sold a ton of papers and literature to people looking for information on the war.

We exchanged contact information with students from all around the area so that we can organise a city-wide student walk-out the day after the US starts bombing Iraq (outside the no-fly zones). By Ramy

New York

THE NEW York Socialist Alternative branch participated on 6 October in the largest anti-war rally in NYC since the Gulf war in 1991. Up to 20,000 joined the Not In Our Name demo.

This is a clear sign of a larger anti-war movement developing against possible actions into Iraq by the Bush administration compared to the war in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks on 9/11. And coupled to domestic issues like the corporate scandals the 26 October demo in Washington DC against the war could be one of the largest anti-war demos in recent history.

We had two stalls with placards against the war and one reading 'Money for jobs and education and not war'.

A teacher joined Socialist Alternative and 71 people wanted more information from us. 219 copies of our paper, Justice, were sold. By Eljeer

Minneapolis

AROUND 1,500 protested at the downtown federal building in Minneapolis on 13 October. According to long-time anti-war organisers, this is the biggest turn-out in years.

150 students from the University of Minnesota marched from the campus to the downtown protest, a 30 minute walk away. Socialist Alternative members played a key role in building the student turn-out.

Socialist Alternative members are building for a big campus demonstration on 24 October, aimed at developing a united effort of existing anti-war activists and integrating the many unorganised into concrete activities. By Ty

1962 Cuban missile crisis

On The Brink Of Nuclear War

ON THE 22 October 1962 the president of the United States, John F Kennedy, made a speech to the nation. Informing everyone of the build up of offensive nuclear weapons (supplied by the Soviet Union) in Cuba, he announced a blockade of ships carrying military equipment to Cuba. He demanded the Soviet Union withdraw these weapons and "to move the world back from the abyss of destruction."

Todd Gitlin, author of The Sixties Years of hope, days of rage and an anti-Vietnam War activist, recalls the following: "Kennedy gave his "quarantine" (better called by a less medicinal term, blockade) speech on Monday night, 22 October 1962. For six days, time was deformed, everyday life suddenly dwarfed and illuminated, as if by the glare of an explosion that had not yet taken place. Until the news was broadcast that Kruschev was backing down, the country lived out the awe and truculence and simmering near-panic always implicit in the thermonuclear age."

Speaking of the official myth that it was the "steady hands" of Kennedy and co who averted such a nightmare, he concludes: "Another ending was possible, the ending of all endings, and then we would not be alive, most likely, to challenge the official myth."

This event pushed many including the author to the left as he concluded: "The great powers could drag the world to the brink of annihilation whenever they damned well pleased."

The cold war

THE BACKDROP to these events was the period following the Second World War known as the 'Cold War' when the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as two rival superpowers. One was based on capitalism and the other on a planned economy; two opposed systems and both had nuclear weapons.

Following 1945 when the US dropped two Atom bombs on Japan, the horrors of nuclear weapons were apparent. There were enough nuclear weapons in these two countries to destroy the planet.

However, throughout this period such a deadly scenario was unlikely. If one country launched these weapons, then the other would have immediately retaliated resulting in "Mutually Assured Destruction" or 'MAD' which contributed to an uneasy equilibrium. Also the strength of working-class organisations in the West at the time, with their democratic rights, acted as an obstacle to a pre-emptive nuclear strike by the ruling class.

Cuba and the US

IN HIS speech warning of a possible nuclear war, Kennedy stated the following: "Our history... demonstrates that we have no desire to dominate or conquer any other nation or impose our system upon its people."

In fact, the US had actively intervened to overthrow the Cuban government ever since Fidel Castro took power in 1959. It was precisely the action of the US to stifle the revolution, by cutting supplies to ruin the economy, that led to Cuba's dependency on the Soviet Union.

The overthrow of the US stooge, Batista, in Cuba and the coming to power of Castro eventually led to the overthrow of capitalism and landlordism. (See The Socialist 270) Even though Cuba is not a socialist country due to the lack of workers' democracy, nonetheless a planned economy was implemented which meant the nationalisation of many subsidiaries of US companies.

The US was mortally afraid of what Cuba represented and the support it received. Not only did it have to contend with a planned economy in the Soviet Union but the fact that capitalism had been overthrown in a country so close to the US was a blow to US Imperialism.

It was especially fearful of the downtrodden Latin American masses following in Cuba's footsteps.

On 17 April 1961 the US spy agency, the CIA, organised an armed invasion of Cuba known as the 'Bay of Pigs'. 1,300 Cuban exiles, trained by the US, attempted to invade Cuba and rouse opposition to overthrow Castro.

The invasion was a disaster due the paucity of the exiles, lack of a coherent opposition within Cuba and no viable opposition leader.

A new invasion was planned the following year known as Operation Mongoose which would culminate in an invasion in October 1962.

A Memo from Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs (Martin) to Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Johnson) on 12 October spoke of: "... providing the selected exile group with funds, arms, sabotage equipment, transport and communications equipment for infiltration operations in order to build a political base of opposition inside Cuba."

In February 1962 the Kennedy administration announced a total embargo of trade with Cuba.

Between July and October the US were engaged in aggressive intervention in Cuba on a daily basis.

Shots fired from the US controlled Guantanamo Naval Base and other shootings by infiltrators regularly led to the death of Cuban citizens.

Jane French in her book Cuba and the US describes: "Hit and run attacks by boats along the coast and other constant violations of Cuban territory by boats and planes, that carry out espionage, sabotage, hijackings of boats, kidnappings and infiltration of CIA operatives."

Sequence of events

BOTH CUBA and the Soviet Union knew of the planned invasion and in May Castro had accepted the offer of the Soviet Union to provide Cuba with nuclear weapons to defend their country and government from US intervention.

Of course Nikita Kruschev, leader of the Soviet Union, saw this as an opportunity to position nuclear weapons in America's backyard and thereby increase Russia's global power and prestige.

US spy planes flying over Cuba spotted the missile sites along with many Soviet forces sent to install the weapons and train the Cubans in their use.

There were frantic discussions once it was established that these weapons were nuclear and with an intermediate range could reach many key US cities.

A US intelligence document of the time states the following:- Analysis of SAM (Surface to Air Missile) sites: "...accepted range of SS-4 missile: includes - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Oklahoma City, Fort Worth - Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Mexico City, all the capitals of the Central American nations, the Panama Canal and the oil fields in Maricaibo, Venezuela. The presence of operational SS-4 missiles in this location would give the Soviets a great military asset."

Robert F Kennedy, Attorney General, understood the threat from nuclear weapons so close to the US: "And the fact that you got these things in the hands of Cubans, here, and then... some problem arises in Venezuela you've got Castro saying, 'You move troops down into that part of Venezuela, we're going to fire these missiles'." Of course "some problem" refers to possible workers uprisings in Venezuela!

The Kennedy administration discussed many possible options. They could bomb the missile sites before they were operational and then invade Cuba. Or, blockade Cuba and stop ships coming from the USSR with weapons parts. Alternatively, they could negotiate with the USSR and perhaps give up Berlin or withdraw nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy.

Kruschev himself had raised the accusation of why was it all right for the US to have nuclear weapons in European countries next to the USSR but not USSR weapons in the Western hemisphere.

A Telegram from the Embassy in the Soviet Union to the US Department of State reported Krushevs' complaints: "US has bases in countries neighboring USSR, such as Turkey, as well as Greece, Italy, France, West Germany, and Pakistan. But USSR does not attack these countries. If US thinks it has right to do as it likes about Cuba, why hasn't USSR right to do as it likes about Cuba, why hasn't USSR right to do as it likes about these countries?

"USSR does not recognise right of US to be everywhere in world and to rule everywhere. It was one thing when US was very powerful, but now there is a force as great as yours."

The US was blatant in wanting a regime change in Cuba and piled pressure on the UN and pro-US Organisation of American States to win their support for an attack. '

The true objectives of the US were revealed in the following document:- "McCone (Director of Central Intelligence) stated that we must all bear in mind that we have two objectives, one, disposing of the missile sites and the other, getting rid of Castro's Communism in the Western Hemisphere."

Eventually a decision was made to put into operation a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent the delivery of offensive weapons to Cuba. Yet even this option held fears of a reaction from the USSR if their ships were intercepted.

On the other hand if the missile sites were bombed, many USSR soldiers would be killed and again provoke a reaction from the Soviet Union.

The US had to weigh up the likely response from another superpower which could escalate into a nuclear world war.

On 24 October six Russian ships on course for Cuba turned back rather than run the blockade and by the 26 October negotiations between the Soviet Union and the US were underway.

The agreement reached on 28 October was that the Soviet Union would dismantle the weapons in Cuba arid the US would pledge not to invade Cuba.

In fact behind the scenes Robert Kennedy had delivered a message to the US Soviet Ambassador saying that US Jupiter missiles would be removed from Turkey if the Soviets removed theirs from Cuba. (In March 1963 the Turkish missiles were withdrawn.) The missile crisis was over.

Power play

ALTHOUGH THE incident was named the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuba itself was just a pawn.

Kruschev and his Stalinist regime saw the opportunity of getting nuclear weapons in the Western Hemisphere right under the nose of the US. This would increase their potential power and prestige, far more important factors for them than the interests of ordinary workers and peasants in Cuba. Castro was not even consulted by Kruschev about the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Cuba. Most of the negotiations were between the two superpowers.

40 years on in an interview with ABC, Castro says that Kruschev aggravated the stand-off by insisting to Kennedy that there were no nuclear weapons on Cuba and that all Soviet activity was defensive.

The US too were prepared to barter their allies to get the weapons removed and directly defend the interests of US capitalism. Berlin, which was divided up between the powers after the Second World War and was inside Soviet controlled East Germany, could have fallen to the Soviet Union. They were also prepared to remove their nuclear weapons from some European countries.

The US was well aware that Cuba was a beacon to the workers and oppressed in Latin America and any strengthening of Cuba or the Soviet Union could give confidence to those struggling against capitalism.

The threat today

TODAY, NUCLEAR weapons are in the hands of much more unstable regimes such as Pakistan, India, North Korea and are present in a large number of countries. And since the collapse of the planned economy in the ex-Soviet Union there, is not a counter-power to rival the US. The attempts by imperialist powers especially the US to dominate regions of the world is fomenting nationalist, religious and ethnic violence, civil wars and wars.

Moreover, following 11 September, the US has announced its intention to launch pre-emptive nuclear attacks against other countries.

The Cuban missile crisis still resonates today. George W Bush invoked it last week to justify pre-emptive action against Iraq.

Yet, throughout the world, opposition to the US administration is growing not just against its war aims but also its capitalist globalisation policies and its damaging environmental practices. Any "limited" use of nuclear weapons would not just result in millions of deaths but create huge protests around the world.

As our forerunners did in the 1960s, so the Socialist Party opposes nuclear weapons and continues the struggle to replace capitalism with a socialist society thereby wresting control of weapons of mass destruction from the present powers and creating a world free from the horrors of war.

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Students Look For A Socialist Alternative

Socialist Party members have found an enthusiastic response on activity in the universities and colleges this term. 

At the Freshers' Fairs our stalls were often inundated with students wanting to sign petitions and join the Socialist Students' societies. Top of the list of concerns was the war against Iraq, followed by tuition fees, the abolition of the grant and spiralling debts.

Kieron Roberts

The war against Iraq has had a radicalising effect amongst students and young people in general. In Leicester 25 attended the first Socialist Students' meeting of the term; at Brunel there were 13 new members. One student described the mood at his university, "Quite a few from my university went on the demonstration in London, many of them came back really wanting to do stuff here as well!"

What has been most striking though has been the readiness of students to join the Socialist Party. "It seems that the war, S11 and the situation in the world has caused a lot of students to look for an alternative to capitalism. We've had people ask to join who have already decided that they are socialists and want to join a socialist party." said one student member.

Socialist Party members are now helping to build mass action at universities and colleges across the country against war on Iraq on 31 October.

Sheffield

FOR THE second year running Freshers' Fairs have taken place to the sound of beating war-drums. Overwhelming opposition to Bush and Blair's plans on Iraq means a constant flow of students to sign our petitions and discussion around our stalls.

Alistair Tice

Over four days we sold 124 Socialists at Sheffield University and another 53 at Sheffield Hallam University.

The most significant aspect has been the number of students already interested in socialist ideas. Spotting a Che Guevara T-shirt I shout, "Hey Che, over here! Are you a socialist?" "No," replies Adrian, "I'm a communist." After a discussion, he joins Socialist Students.

Emily is overheard asking the Socialist Workers' Party what the difference is between them and the Socialist Party. They tell her that they're more radical, more left wing and more revolutionary! We explain that we link up the day to day issues with the need to change society, including in the anti-war movement. Later Emily joins Socialist Students.

Gustavo, a Venezuelan student who has joined the Socialist Party, was among the first 200 who faced the tanks outside the fort where President Chavez was imprisoned during the US-backed coup. He is in touch with students and the popular assemblies back home and wants to open international links.

Bob came on the anti-war demo, Steve's been on his first paper sale, Jane's going fly posting, Jim's really enjoyed the Socialist Students' meetings and Jeremy joined on the web-site!

Over 60 have signed up for the Socialist Student societies and four have already joined the Socialist Party with more to come.

London

"I'm a socialist and I'm looking for a socialist organisation." This was the way one student at the London School of Economics introduced himself to the Socialist Students' stall at the Freshers' Fair.

Chris Moore

Working and being involved in an industrial dispute before coming to university had helped to forge his political views. He now wanted to discuss how to make socialism a reality.

Students have crowded round our stalls to sign the petitions against the war in Iraq, many want to know about an alternative to the madness and horror of capitalism. In the week building up to the huge anti-war demonstration on 28 September, it seemed everyone who signed the petitions knew about the protest and was planning to come. Our idea that the war was about the strategic interests of USA imperialism, especially oil, was met with nods and agreement.

We have sold 330 Socialists on 21 stalls in 14 different universities and colleges in just over a month. Socialist Student societies have been set up in two universities so far with plans for more. This is the basis of building a socialist organisation amongst students in London.

Coventry

At Coventry University, the Socialist Party has a high profile due to years of campaigning against tuition fees, and in the last year against the war on Afghanistan and threatened invasion of Iraq.

Paul Hunt

Over the course of the week we sold around 75 Socialists, and met dozens who signed up for Socialist Students and who wanted to be kept in touch with our activities.

At Warwick University we underestimated the amount of interest we would get. By early afternoon we had sold out of Socialists and one of our members had to drive back to Coventry to collect another bundle! From ten in the morning to six at night, our stall was kept busy with students walking up for a chat, buying our material and signing up for Socialist Students. We met students from Italy, China, Egypt, Brazil,United States, Russia, France, Ireland and a Cuban woman who had read our article on Cuba and Che Guevara and wanted to discuss it.

Over 50 joined Socialist Students and around the same number gave their details to be kept in touch with future events. We are now organising for the 31 October day of action.

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Indonesia: Terrorism And State Terrorism

THE BOMBING of a tourist area on the Indonesian island of Bali has been blamed by Western governments on the Jemaah Islamiah Islamic group with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida terrorist network.

This group operates throughout south east Asia and aims to set up an Islamic state to include parts of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In June an al-Qa'ida operative was arrested in Indonesia and placed in US custody.

Indonesia with its long-simmering national conflicts and ethnic divisions (fuelled by elements of the ruling class who have seen a decline in their power since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998 and are trying to provoke a new military takeover), has long been the target of pan-Asian Islamists.

In particular they have targeted the current weak capitalist government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the female head of the world's most populous Muslim country, and an ally of US imperialism. Megawati's increasing use of repression has failed to halt the growth of these groups.

Clearly, by targeting the holiday island of Bali one of their aims is to cripple the foreign exchange earnings of the debt-laden and recession-hit archipelago state. Only recently the US agreed to reschedule $500 million of Indonesia's debts, part of the growing tie-up between Indonesia's armed forces and the US military.

Bloody history

The Western media have referred to the Bali bombing as the 'worse terrorist event in Indonesia's history'. But as horrific as it was, it shouldn't obscure the fact that secessionist violence in the troubled energy region of Aceh (the oil and gas fields are largely owned by Exxon Mobil) has already claimed 800 lives so far this year and some 10,000 during the last 20 years.

Elements of the army are clearly involved in fomenting this violence; often training ethnic or religious based militias to wage communalist pogroms or secessionist struggles in order to pressure the central state to concede more power to the military to put down such movements.

Sometimes the local military some engage in banditry. Recently, several soldiers were cashiered out of the armed forces after their drug smuggling operation led to a gunfight with police.

Moreover, the 32 year dictatorship of the Suharto clique backed by the US, Britain and Australian governments was responsible for the brutal suppression of the Indonesian Communist Party, trade unionist and other opponents in the 1960s. Some estimates claim a death toll of over 1 million during this period.

In the recent past the world has also witnessed the slaughter of over 200,000 East Timorese (one-third of the population) by the Indonesian army and Indonesian backed militias. During these bloody days before independence in 1999 Tony Blair's government allowed the sale of Hawk jet fighters and machine guns to Indonesia, despite Labour's "ethical" foreign policy and despite these known atrocities.

Last year the Indonesian Parliament sacked their ailing and corrupt President Abdurrahman Wahid and replaced him with vice-president Megawatti. However, secessionist wars have continued and poverty is widespread and growing.

The struggles by workers and students in overthrowing the Suharto dictatorship have been betrayed by the capitalist ruling parties. Megawatti's neo-liberal policies have increased the exploitation of workers while attacking their limited democratic rights.

Shadowy armed forces linked to the state have attacked workers' organisations. Indonesia's 'democracy' has a limited shelf-life under capitalism.

However, a new united struggle by the working-class against these reactionary forces and the government could speed the development of a mass socialist alternative to all the pro-market parties and capitalism as a whole.

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Letter to The Observer

17 October 2002

Dear Sir,

If Militant (now the Socialist Party) had really been a “sect” and “loathed by voters and most people in the Labour Party” (Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer, 13 October 2002) we would not have generated as much interest from journalists like him nor would I have been interviewed in the 1980s on TV programmes he fronted.

We earned the ire of the rich, the powerful and the Labour right who defend them because we connected socialism and Marxism with mass movements of the working class in Liverpool, which initially defeated Thatcher, and in the poll tax struggle, which ultimately led to her downfall.

When the ideas of Militant were influential in the Liverpool Labour Party, it consistently increased its votes in elections, it time and again defeated the Liberals and Tories, and had up to 800 people attending its meetings. Under the stewardship of Kinnock’s and Blair’s heirs, the Liverpool Labour Party has now been reduced to a rump and the Liberal Democrats overwhelmingly control the council.

Rawnsley has kind words for the “war hero” Tebbit yet Militant members and supporters were real heroes to working class people in another more important war, the class war; they were prepared to risk losing their jobs and homes, and go to jail, for refusing to pay the poll tax.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Taaffe

(Former editor, Militant, now General Secretary of the Socialist Party).

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