Lothian: 5,000 on protest march An open letter to Lothian councillors

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Party with its network of Resignation will only not ing the attacks on them. and the Regional Labour to start winning. local branches, also had, be a cop-out if, having or we will be fighting. and could yet have, a vital renounced and attempted against you. Aroanise as councillor Phyllis Herriot put it, "complete anathema" to them.

Councillor Herriot was also in favour of remaining in office.

Alarm was so great at the prospect of the Labour Group being asked to resign that both the STUC and the Scottish Council vi the Labour Party had representatives at the meeting.

Drop

Mick Connarty, for the Scottish Counci of the Labour Party - complete with tape recorder to ensure against being misquoted -advised the Party to drop the idea of resignation.

We needed to be more realistic and practical. While implementing £30 million of cuts might not be very good "that is what representative THE LOSS of the labour 'HE LOSS of the labour movement's stand against the cuts in Lothian is as he cuts in Lothian is as severe a setback for the evere a setback for the movement as the decision to fight the cuts was an advance.

It is certainly true that the carpet was swept from under the feet of the Labour group by the downright scabbing of most of the local union officials, who did nothing to develop the obvious potential of events like the magnificent turnout on June 30th.

Yet, surely, no-one can really express any surprise at the role the trade union leadership, local and national, have played.

Once the Rate Support Grant was withdrawn, all-out strike action was the only basis on which to build a successful campaign. It HF still is!

However, the trade union leaders twice prevented a vote on this question at the Joint Shop Stewards conferences, and in the union branches they argued for 'selective action' - оГ, in some cases, didn't even hold meetings of their membership. and the Regional Labour Party with its network of local branches, also had, and could yet have, a vital leadership role to play. Time-worn ideas about non-interference in union affairs are utterly misplaced when they give cover to officials confusing and demoralising their members.

Listening

When you land the Regional Labour Party| decided to take on a no-cuts position, you became campaigners and thousands of public sector workers were listening.

We in the Labour Party, whether councillors ordinary members, had, and still have, a duty to say clearly to the movement to start winning.

Resignation will only not be a cop-out if, having renounced and attempted to rescind the cuts already made, you publicly make it clear that you are continuing the campaign against redundancies and cuts in services and will play no part in the sort of administration that entails these attacks on workers' living standards.

Encouragement

li, however, you decide to sit with union leaders deciding which cuts and redundancies will be made, you will only be providing encouragement to the Tories to go further and further. The working left either passively accep left either passively accepting the attacks on them -or we will be fighting... against you.

Socialist Organiser Inninliot supporters pledge themselves to building this fight against cuts. It will be more easily built if there is not a Labour administration in the Council carry. ing out the cuts and instead, the Labour councillors are in the forefront of the campaign against the Tory attacks, helping to link up with those in other regions who are still prepared to fight.

EDINBURGH SOCIALIST ORGANISER GROUP • This is an abridged version of the Open Letter distributed on the demonstration last Saturday, 12th.

"In view of the unanimous support for the Laurence Scott dispute from the 28 July Manchester North District Committee of the AUEW and the rules of the union with regard to procedure for deciding on the official status of disputes (Rule 14, para 16) this branch deplores any attempt by the Executive to terminate this dispute against the clear wishes of the workforce represented at two mass meetings (14 July and 23 July) and calls on the Executive to maintain the official backing for this fight for jobs.

Donations to: JSSC, c/o George Fryer, 20 Round Croft, Romilly, Cheshire.

gs JOHN Boyd' s one excuse for his sell-out of the Laurence Scott and Electromotors strikers in Manchester is that his proposed deal, though it was little help to the Manchester workers, saved other LSE plants from cutbacks.

Now even that has been shown up as a lie. LSE has announced 400 redundancies at its Norwich plant, to which orders from Manchester have been transferred.

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Socialist Organiser, 17 September 1981 Page 15