Letters

Too generous?

The recent edition of the Weekly Worker (February 9), while excellent, contained a number of statements which I believe could lead to a slight ‘dilution’ of our communist politics.

With respect to Militant Labour’s snap decision to stand in the forthcoming Weavers ward by-election in Tower Hamlets, comrade Alan Fox states, “It is therefore a small, but positive step that Militant Labour has taken”. Sure, but “positive” for whom exactly? If comrade Alan Fox means that this is an excellent opportunity for the Communist Party to expose the rotten “right centrist” (Jack Conrad) politics of Militant, then I heartily agree. On the other hand, if the comrade means that is good in and of itself that Militant is standing then I beg to differ. It is not entirely clear from the article where comrade Fox’s orientation lies (though I guess that it is the former).

Comrade Steve Kay thinks “as many people as possible should become involved with solidarity organisations like the Cuba Solidarity Campaign”. Why? Further, he erroneously claims that “at least as important as making revolution at home is the task of assisting the survival of revolutions abroad”.

The Bolsheviks always insisted that the main enemy is at home, therefore the first priority is to make revolution at home. In reality, to claim that assisting solidarity organisations - ie, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign - is “at least as important” as making socialist revolution - ie, reforging the Communist Party - is tantamount to liquidationism. The only way we can “assist” the Cuban Revolution is by bringing about a socialist Britain (if anything, the Cuban bureaucracy should be “assisting” us a little bit more!).

Finally, the call of Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party (sic) for a “realignment” of politics in the Six Counties on a “left-right basis” - a Workers Party/PUP alliance versus the SDLP/Official Unionists - sounds to me more ‘social fascistic’ than “a vision for a bourgeois ‘socialism’ within the existing capitalist Six Counties statelet” (comrade Jim Blackstock). Surely to call the politics of somebody like Billy Hutchinson ‘bourgeois socialist’ is to make him sound relatively benign?

Ray Collins
Aberdeen

Cuban Thatchers

I notice that the Cuban counterrevolutionaries are taking education, especially higher education, very seriously these days. On February 8 the Cuban American National Foundation held a special luncheon in Florida, at which the guest of honour was Lady Margaret Thatcher.

Apparently, the Cuban exiles have named a school after her at a university planned for post-Castro Havana. Kafkaesquely, it will be called The Margaret Thatcher School of Democratic Government, and is to form part of the Universidad Latinoamerica de la Libertad Friedrich Von Hayek. Something to look forward to, I bet.

Quite reasonably, Thatcher told the assembled intellectuals that “I loathed communism from the first time I read about it. Communism was a creed of the pseudo-intellectuals. Lenin was a pseudo-intellectual. I was astonished that it lasted 72 years”.

The university ‘in exile’ will be organising a whole series of seminars on “democracy and capitalism” throughout the Americas. So, the Cuban Whites are attempting to win the ‘minds’ as well as the heart. Perversely, it does give you some hope though: if the fate of the counterrevolution depends on the intellectual power of Thatcher and Von Hayek then there is hope for Castro and the Cuban Revolution yet.

Ian Underwood
Nottingham

Direct recall

The recent shock defection of Tory councillor Paul Nesbitt to the Labour Party has given them control of Bury council. But now leading Labour activist David Davis has called for Mr Nesbitt to resign and seek re-election. Nesbitt, councillor for Sedgley ward, Prestwich, claims he has the law on his side. He says that people are elected to office as individuals, and not on a party basis.

This puts the whole idea of local democracy in question. If individuals are elected as such, then the platform they campaigned on is truly worthless. It can not only be abandoned after the election results are known, but allows people to move from one party to another at will. A similar position operates on a free vote in the House of Commons, when MPs are allowed to follow their conscience with no regard for party policy. What is required to remedy the situation is to really extend democracy by having direct recall of all elected representatives.

Roger Harper
Manchester

Stuck in a jam

I disagree with much of Mary Ward’s article ‘M77 dead end’ (Weekly Worker 81). It must be symptomatic of the period that I can list off more current anti-new road campaigns than industrial disputes. However we must be careful not to just tail the Greens who generally follow a reactionary, anti-industrial agenda.

My job involves travel around the country, and like millions of workers I choose the car as my means of transport. Where possible I use motorways - they are usually quicker and the driving is easier. I do not like being stuck in traffic jams, or having to use roads which crawl through built up areas.

Consequently I want to see faster, safer cars and more motorways. The motorway network in Britain is full of bottlenecks and missing sections - we should be demanding major improvements in the road system.

The article poses the M77 against a decent local bus service. I say, let’s have both. Besides, the motorway is intended for people coming into Glasgow from further afield.

We are urged to support the ‘highly disciplined’ protesters in their direct action against the state. I’m not so sure: to me this is not class struggle. Where is the involvement of the workers on the nearby council estates? Or the public transport unions? Or the construction workers themselves?

I agree that routes for new roads should have minimal impact on workers’ homes and leisure facilities, but I would rather see them go through golf courses than housing estates. To me the biggest problem with the M77 is where it leads - the structurally unsafe Kingston Bridge, already the site of daily traffic jams. So while I agree with the “dead end” in the headline, my solution is more motorways!

Vernon Douglas
Manchester