LCC bars socialist

Scan page 3

Socialists for a Victory ROCK BOMB!

No time to need and without gain to the recipients • No incomes policy. Repeal of Tory anti-union laws • Women's rights, including the right to control their own fertility • Repeal the Nationality Act and Immigration Acts ose!

• Police accountability. repeal of the Police Biti • A united Ireland. Repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, ban plastic bullets • A socialist foreign policy supporting liberation movements abroad • No formal coalition, no informal deals. End the witch-hunt • A Labour government that carries out Labour conference decisions.

Contact: Mandy Moore/ Andy Harris (joint secretaries), c/o 28 Middle Lane, London N8. Affiliation fee: £3 individuals, £5 organisations. ON April 19, SO supporter Stan Crooke's application to re-join Glasgow Central CLP (prior to re-organisation he was in Queen's Park CLP) was rejected, thanks mainly to the efforts of local members of the Labour Co-ordinating Committee (LCC). .

Stan Crooke was expelled from the Party last October, for having written an article for SO with the alleged intention. of bringing the Party into disrepute. The appeals tribunal of the Labour Party Scottish Executive had a 2-1 majority in favour of reinstatement when it heard his appeal in December.

But when this verdict came before the right wing dominated NEC Organisation Sub-committee in February, the right wing simply overturned the tribunal's verdict and re-affirmed the expulsion.

Stan Crooke wrote to the CLP asking if it wished to stand by the expulsion. He was informed that if he re-applied for membership he would be accepted as a full member again. The issue finally came up for a decision at the Crosshill branch meeting of April 19.

the MARCH AND FESTIVAL - MAY The application was immediately challenged by one-time left-winger Chic McCafferty, who argued against the application on the basis of a statement fróm the Labour Party Scottish full-timer that "no application for membership from Stan Crooke to any CLP in the United Kingdom can be considered unless the NEC reverse their decision at a later date"

Verdict

Stan Crooke argued that, in re-applying, he was asking the branch to stand by the verdict of the appeals tribunal rather than the decision of the NEC, and was backed up by a "Militant" supporter, who pointed to the London CLPs defying the NEC's expulsion of members of the "Mititant" editorial board.

NUPE full-timer, LCC member, and Labour Party Scottish Executive member Bob Thomson backed up McCafferty, demanding that the expulsion had to be accepted, and his fellow LCC member Eileen Dinning, who was chairing the meeting, ruled the application out of order.

Despite the presence of other LCC members and two Militant supporters at the meeting, no one challenged her ruling. The application was thus rejected.

Such a decision makes mockery of the motion passed just last month at the Labour Party's Scottish conference which opposed any Party member being expelled for his/her socialist beliefs. LCC members, including those at the Crosshill branch meeting, had enthusiastically declared their support for this motion, as "proof" of their "leftwing" credentials.

Unless the • LCC at Scottish level provides active support for Stan Crooke's campaign for reinstatement, it will be clear that the Scottish LCC is just as much a gang of witch-hunters as its English counterpart.

Stan Crooke will be appealing for re-instatement to the 1983 Labour Party national conference, and local SO supporters have agreed to initiate a campaign to ensure a successful appeal. Full details of the campaign will appear in future issues of SO.

Scan page 4

Socialist Organiser 29 April Page

----- pull-quotes -----

Assemble, Embankment at 10.30an March to Brockwell Park, South London for Festival, including Paul Weller, Hazel O'Connor and others.