Martin Thomas discusses

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99% of nuclear comes from wea 20 -Weaponry absorbs a vast proportion of R&D.

Reagan is not simply physically stockpiling still more lethal weaponry today, but his switch to "star wars" research on space warfare promises a new escalation of the arms race in the last ten years of this century and into the next millenium. Reagan масло now over 70 - will be long in his coffin before his nightmare weapons are produced and deployed to menace the population of the world.

'Defended to Death' has some particularly harsh words for the various phony "arms limitation" deals and test ban treaties that have been cooked up since the 1950s.

"Where agreements have been signed, they have been of two sorts: first, there have been agreements not to do things which it was unlikely that anybody would wish to do ... then there have been agreements not to do what cannot be done at the time that the agreement is made." (p.125).

On the much heralded SALT talks, the authors point out that the virtues for the USA and USSR are that: "the SALT process, and its successor, constantly and conspicuously underline the special status of the superpowers in the eyes of the rest of the world community, they keep open a useful channel of communication, legitimise new weapons systems, and, by preempting the nascent political pressures for disarmarender theis incrfective incffective*(.L31) render them inerrective. (p.131)

Other chapters spell out the Cone cal set one a se overlap between nuclear energy and nuclear weaponry - and the duces lethal and unmanageable waste products which technology has failed to cope with. Nuclear waste is portrayed in Britain as purely a problem arising from power stations.

"But in the USA where there is much greater freedom of information, it is possible to give figures: of 10,322,700 cubic feet of high-level waste, 10,196,000 (98.8%) is the by-product of the HLM:

10p per copy plus postage from 13 Buxton Rd, N19. Boeing General Dynamics Grumman Lockheed McDonnell Douglas Northrop Rockwell United Technologies nuclear weapons programme, 126,700 cubic feet (1.2%) has been produced by civilian reactors." (p.250).

But having gone to town on every aspect of the warmongers' case - from the "Soviet threat" to the attacks on civil liberties; from the danger of accidents to the way decisions have been taken in top secret by a handful of people affecting the future of countless millions - the authors appear to get completely carried away with their own eloquence, or possibly overwhelmed by the fruits of their technical research.

Their chapter 'Alternatives' begins with a series of sensible unilateral moves to disarm Britain of nuclear weapons, scrap the nuclear power programme, and redirect research facilities to solving the problem of dismantling and safely disposing of the fissile and contaminated materials.

It moves on to a European scale, proposing the removal of Us bases. But it proposes the maintenance of the NATO alliance on a "conventional" weapons basis.

And it goes on to discuss in detail plans for equipping alternative "conventional" . defence forces - which would leave intact precisely the military hierarchy, the major arms manufacturers and the top-level cliques of civil • Service bureaucrats whose decisions and activities have brought us the present arms race.

In this respect the authors undermine much of the useful educational impact of the early part of the book - since they are forced to argue their non-nuclear "alternative" from the premise of reconstructing the mythology of a "Soviet threat" which they previously demolished.

Evaded

Who is to be "defended"? By whom? Against whom? In what cause? These questions are nimbly DoD and NASA contracts 3,692.6 2,507.3 704.4 3,723.5 3,714.5 -569.5 7,115.2 1,224.7 Independent investment (!

I,183.8 159.8 237.7 299.6 812.8 173.1 486.3 2,030.6 Percentage independent R& D later reimbursed by DoD 17.5 43.9 78.1 50.I 15.2 65.0 31.7 I4.5 evaded by the Cambridge dons — but cannot be evaded by the workers' movement.

we fight for the scrapping of nuclear weapons - but in doing so we also fight for the overturn of capitalist rule, for the disbandment of its state apparatus of permanent civil service, standing army, police and judiciary and their replacement by a workers? state that can break the imperialist mould and reconstruct the economy on socialist lines.

We have no interest in reequipping Thatcher's armed forces with new and more deadly weaponry for "defence" which, in the event of a revolutionary struggle by the working class, would be used against us.

Nor do we have any interest in siding with Thatcher against any supposed "foreign enemy"

For us, the main enemy attacking our jobs, our living standards and everything fought for by the workers' movement is precisely the Tory leadership and the British ruling class they represent.

The defeat of that ruling class and the destruction of its machinery of class rule is, in reality, the only serious way to end the lunatic nuclear arms race, and to play a role on a world scale in struggles against oppression and exploitation. For that fight, a committed and consistent socialist leadership is needed.

'Defended to Death' is useful in that it shows quite clearly both the strengths and the limitations of the radical and reformist elements drawn around the vast CND movement.

Nevertheless, as a quarry of information the book is generally excellent: at £3.50 it comprises the best value of any of the books arguing the case for nuclear disarmament. Dig into it by all means for arguments on the arms race: but for a political understanding of what must be done, readers will need to look elsewhere.

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BKENT EAST Labour Party has voted by 71 to 4 to go ahead with reselection despite a National Executive Committee ruling.

In Brent East, as in Bradford and a few other places, a sitting Labour MP could well be ousted by a left candidate. But Brent East MP Reg Freeson is no Ben Ford, but a former Minister and probably to the left of centre in Parliamentary terms. Ken Reselection has been delayed again and again by one device after another — and the NEC's ruling is based on saying that it is now too late for Brent East to proceed. Brent East's reply is Socialist Organiser no. 130 May 5, 1983 Page 6

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