[Positive Act in is proposed to deal with…]

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Positive Act in is proposed to deal with unemployment among blacks, but not the establishment of quotas. The programme also seeks ways of ensuring genuine equality of access to Social Services.

Proposals for eduction include:

*Multicultural books, curriculum, exams, etc.

*Teacher training to pay attention to the needs of ethnic minorities.

*Schools to employ staff able to communicate with ethnic minority parents.

The Programme non-racist Nationality Act. on which will be based supposedly non-racist immigration laws.

Proposals on deportation • and detention include:

*A right of appeal.

*Migrant workers affected by the 1971 Act allowed to etay and thaco romanor lu stay, anu buse Itmuvtu allowed to return.

*Right of appeal against deportation on political grounds.

*Minimise administrative detention, right to apply for bail, and continued detention to be justified before a court every seven days.

*Ensuı of privac every citi *Repet of the lau *Amer ment Pro homosexi a valid re Gays s from frasm program nises th family is criteria housing r Bring the definition y is the same for zen. al or amendment v on soliciting. id the Employtection Act so that uality is no longer ason for dismissal. hould also benefit abour s nousing hornina ne which recoglat the typical' no longer a valid for determining provision.

The troops will not be withdrawn. In short a continuation of the present imperialist policy.

Pensioners should benefit from proposed changes in the administration of means-tested benefits like rent and rate rebates, and from a one year rent freeze. The transport policy which proposes improved public transport, and cheap and concessionary fares for them. In the longer term, pensions are to rise to one-third average gross earnings for single people, and half average gross earnings for a married couple.

Other proposals include:

*Progressive reduction of men's retirement to 60.

*Extension of the Job Release Scheme.

*Full indexation of benefits.

*Increase in Supplementary Benefit.

reiana Labour's policy on Ireland is based on the nonsensical decision of the last Conference. Labour is supposedly against the Unionist veto, but in favour of a United Ireland only by consent of the Protestant minority. Labour will campaign to persuade Protestants of the benefits of a United Ireland. Meanwhile, it will help them maintain their privileges by devolving • some governmental functions.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act will be repealed. Irish prisoners will not be given political status, and the only proposal for the Diplock kangaroo courts is to have three kangaroos sitting instead of one. The troops will not be withdrawn, and there is no statement about the use of plastic bullets or CS gas.

In short, a continuation of the present imperialist policy.

There are many more important proposals included in the Programme -more than can be dealt with here. The foliowing are some of the most important.

Education •PriSiDE IX ai FTE scieci inice B600R PREDES reGULE I Not air sery centres.

•A Bill to charg sbool fees follom Transport *Establishment of National Transport Authority.

*Encourage use for freight.

Government *Introduction of a Freedom of Information Act.

*Establishment of a Data Protection Agency to prevent abuse of computer files.

*Reform of Civil Service to remove public school and Oxbridge bias.

Ministers will be given more say in the appointment of senior officials. Back bench MPs are to be brought into government departments to increase control, and Ministers are to have their own advisers with strong links to the labour movement.

*The House of Lords is to be abolished, not in a matter of weeks but during the lifetime of the Parliament. (No mention of the monarchy).

*The honours system is also to be abolished.

*The Security Services are to be legally established rather than abolished, and supposedly subject to greater control.

*Introduction of an Interception of Communications Act.

The Press •YUN *Establishment of a subsidy to small circulation newspapers fixed in inverse relation to circulation.

*Legal obligation on wholesalers and retailers to take any lawful publication and arrange its proper supply and display.

*Introduction of a legal right of reply against the press and media.

Local government Labour will retrospectively cancel any penalties imposed on councillors for carrying out manifesto commitments. However, opportunity for a cop-out on this is provided in the statement that this does not include wilful financial negligence. Does this mean opposing cuts, and rent or rate rises?

Common Market In line with Party policy Bessi will withdraw from in EC. 1 zuraber of poides I contanescioc de See diet es EASs IT iDE seed DO La par inken up setting our mbat seems an overly long and complicated procedure for tion of Terrorism Act can be pushed through, or how easily the Tories can push through anti-working class legislation, and when it comes to a Labour Government putting through measures in the interests of the workers there's never enough time. As far as costs are concerned, these can be easily met if we relieve the bosses of their property and organise production for the needs of workers.

Persuasion

Instead of the perspective of mobilising workers to challenge the bosses' property and state, the foundation of the Programmme is a belief that the bosses can be persuaded to co-operate by various clever devices. There is a failure to come to grips with the fact that the interests of workers and bosses are irreconcilably opposed.

Similarly there is a failure to recognise the class nature of the state, which is there to protect the bosses' interests by all possible means. Thus the approach to the police, security services, and civil service is to establish all kinds of usually Parliamentary checks and balances - without any evidence of any real will to operate these checks rigorously against the will of the cops and bureaucrats -rather than dismantling these institutions and replacing them with a state controlled by and responsive to workers' needs.

Radical ideas

However, there are many important and radical ideas and proposals in the Programme, especially relating to women and blacks. It provides a basis for discussion from which more adequate policies could be developed in the course of struggle.

Such a possibility will however, be rued out unless the right sing counter-revolutios defeated asi rersei Ded ki DE I T De accope Denima essecy Duca:

BOCCEROI! 7.. gramine the al ise olsers in the past will be Do morE than waste paper.