27.06.1996

Dundee’s class wars

Campaigners against school closures in Dundee were given a boost recently following the humiliating climbdown by Glasgow and Edinburgh Labour councils. Both cities faced major school closure programmes. However the success of the Scottish Socialist Alliance-inspired Save Our Schools campaign in Glasgow made them retreat.

The focus initially was Linlathan High School, where last week the pupils had been given three days off before the end of term so that removal companies could come in and clear the school of equipment. Unfortunately they were aided and abetted by some teachers.

However, many local people as well as pupils were not so ready to give in to the council’s diktat.

On Wednesday four campaigners entered the building with the intention of occupying it. This resulted in police smashing down the door and forcibly removing the protesters. The next four days saw an almost continual picket of the school to try to prevent the equipment being removed. Several times the gates were blockaded with lorries either locked in or locked out.

Some teachers were so determined that the school should be emptied of equipment that they tried (but failed) to break the chains on the gates. Even when the council removed the gates to prevent them being locked a barricade was thrown across the entrance.

By Monday, the spotlight had moved to Rockwell Primary School, where pupils started their summer holidays two days early, so Dundee Removals could come in and empty the school. Here too parents attempted to occupy. However they were tricked out of the building by the police three hours later. At the time of going to press the protest is continuing at the school gates.

Whatever the outcome the important thing is that local workers are willing to fight the closures using direct action. They are not prepared to sit back and watch as the heart of their community is ripped out - the closure of schools, community centres and shops all contribute to the ‘ghettoisation’ of some estates.

Dundee Labour council now has the ‘distinction’ of being the main architect of school closures in Scotland. We must ensure that the people of Dundee and the rest of Scotland do not forget Labour’s connivance with the butchery of education and local government.

The crucial task now is to build an alternative political party to Labour. One that will not just prostrate itself before big business, but can win the hearts and minds of the working class across Britain.

Andy Maclean