WW archive > Issue 397 - 30 August 2001
Letters
Inaccuracies; Moral authority
Planet of the apes Monkey business
Tim Burton (director) Planet of the apes 120 minutes, general release
Sense and nonsense
Ian Donovan takes issue with some aspects of the Weekly Worker?s coverage of official anti-racism
Trade unions and Labour
Matt Wrack, Socialist Party member and Fire Brigades Union militant, addressed the CPGB?s Communist University earlier this month in a talk entitled ?Breaking the link - the unions and the Labour Party?. This is an edited version of his well argued and highly significant remarks
Lessons of the Russian Revolution
Hillel Ticktin discusses the legacy of October 1917 and takes issue with the CPGB over the question of democracy
Defend Tucker and Skiggs
Deeper into crisis
Our history Parliament debate
The resolution on parliamentary action at the 1st Congress of the CPGB (the Communist Unity Convention) was moved for the Joint Provisional Central Committee by comrade Tom Bell (see Weekly Worker August 30). After the resolution was seconded, it was agreed that there should be a debate for and against parliamentary action, leaving any amendments till afterwards. Although the question was one of the least controversial at the congress, there was some opposition. The essence of the argument was not whether or not parliamentary legislation could be used to bring about socialism. Almost all agreed that parliament had to be smashed. However, where the majority recognised that it was necessary to use elections and parliament itself to achieve that aim, a minority thought that any such attempts would lead to corruption and reinforce existing illusions. The chair, comrade Arthur MacManus, called a total of 19 speakers during the debate: 13 for and six against. On being put to a card vote, the resolution was carried by 186 (representing 4,650 votes) to 19 (representing 475 votes). Below we give edited excerpts from all speeches, as reported in the official account of the congress.
Hackney bosses go on the attack
Self-determination for Albanians
Nato forces out of Macedonia
Anti-fascists kick off
Mark Metcalf, acting secretary of Sunderland Fans Against Racism, gives a sober assessment of the August 18 anti-fascist mobilisation