BY PETE CLIFFORD
LONDON - "For 25 years the British government has prevented by force and violence the world from learning of the legitimate demands of the Irish people. Now another voice can be heard, that of Irish freedom fighters who are gaining a platform from the United States, to Britain, to Ireland," said Marcella FitzGerald at the opening of the fifth congress of the Communist League (CL) in the United Kingdom. FitzGerald's report on the resolution, "The Crisis of the United Kingdom and the Irish Question," was the centerpiece of the March 25-27 meeting here.

The resolution, along with reports on "Defending Cuba, Defending Cuba's Socialist Revolution," and "Imperialism's March Toward Fascism and War," were adopted by congress delegates. A report on "Organizing the Communist League and Building the Young Socialists," which mapped out the tasks of the party in the coming months, was also discussed and approved by delegates to the meeting.

Sixty-six people attended the congress, including 15 delegates from the Communist League's branches in London and Manchester, as well as international guests from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, Sweden, the United States, and New Zealand. The majority of participants were industrial workers, with 26 participants belonging to the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU); the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers; and the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union. Thirteen members of the Young Socialists were among the 16 people attending their first congress of the Communist League.

Irish struggle making headway
"Fighters around the world have something to celebrate," FitzGerald told the congress. "The Irish struggle is making headway. Despite 25 years of military occupation and 75 years of partition, the Irish people have refused to get down on their knees to the British government and its allies. The repression has continued to produce fighters, not broken souls.

"We all need to join in actions, protests, and other activities - both in Ireland and Britain - calling for British troops out of Northern Ireland now; the release of all Irish political prisoners; the abolition of the infamous Diplock courts, under which the accused are denied the right to a jury and the accusers literally hide behind a special screen while giving testimony; the disbanding of the British- organized Royal Ulster Constabulary police; the opening of the border roads between the north and south of Ireland; repealing of the Prevention of Terrorism and Special Powers Acts under which tens of thousands have been detained, jailed, and framed-up; and implementation of affirmative action measures for Catholics in Northern Ireland to reverse the institutionalized and systematic discrimination they continue to face in employment, housing, and education.

"It is an outrage," FitzGerald said, "that London, which militarily occupies Northern Ireland and has been the driving force of the violence there, should demand of Sinn Fein that the Irish Republican Army disarm before talks can begin. We demand London begin talks now!

"The fight to get the imperialists off the backs of working people throughout Ireland - and national unification and respect of the sovereignty and independence of that country - this is the Irish question," FitzGerald said in her report.

"Working people in Northern Ireland are enthusiastic about the end of daytime patrols by British troops in Belfast - curtailing their widespread and intimidating presence in the streets - and the IRA cease-fire. It opens up greater opportunities for working people to engage in political activity. These new openings have allowed fighters in Ireland to gain a greater platform for their struggle, as Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams's historic trip to the United States demonstrated," she said.

For example, the annual "Bloody Sunday" march to commemorate the 1972 massacre of 13 unarmed people by British troops in Derry was significantly bigger this year. A new campaign, Saoirse, has been launched that calls for the release of Irish prisoners. On March 17, St. Patrick's Day, four major protests were organized by Saoirse in Northern Ireland: 1,000 marched in Omagh, 500 in Derry, 1,000 in Coalisland, and 100 in Belfast.

One hundred delegates from throughout Ireland attended a national meeting of Saoirse in Dublin in February. In London, activists launched Saoirse March 23. Those in attendance demanded the transfer of 28 Republican prisoners to Northern Ireland as well as the right to speak Irish in British prisons. Family visits are currently terminated if Irish is spoken.

"In Northern Ireland Catholics are two-and-one-half times more likely to be unemployed than Protestants," FitzGerald pointed out. Over generations, such discrimination has become deeply entrenched. Most workers who are Protestant have been won to identify their interests with the existence of the Northern Ireland state as part of the United Kingdom. Winning them to support the struggle for Irish national self- determination will not be easy.

"Under the pressure of depression conditions worldwide," she said, "working people - both Catholic and Protestant - face sharp attacks on their standard of living, working conditions, and social programs. As struggles by youth and working people against these assaults unfold, however, opportunities will grow to break down divisions imposed by the wealthy rulers."

Delegates discussed the central place of the Irish freedom struggle for the working class in Britain. The capitalist rulers have utilized the oppression of Ireland to convince workers who are British that they have a common interest with their exploiters. They have stoked up divisions in the workforce in Britain as a cornerstone of maintaining their system of exploitation. Joyce Fairchild, an engineering worker from Manchester, said anti-Irish prejudice was "still in the background, but when you challenge it you get a serious hearing among workmates."

"There are more than 750,000 working people in Britain who were born in Ireland, with millions more whose parents were from Ireland, making the Irish the largest national minority in Britain," FitzGerald said. "Discrimination against the Irish, who are concentrated in the lower paid, heavier, and manual jobs, has been overlaid by new waves of immigration from all over the world."

Referring to the recent "Framework Document" issued by London and Dublin outlining their hoped-for political settlement and new constitutional arrangements between Britain, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, FitzGerald said, "What these governments would like to do and what they will end up with are two different things. The partition of Ireland is exhausted, 25 years of resistance has been unbroken, and what happens next will be determined in struggle. Nothing has been settled, and London recognizes this. The initiative is in the hands of Sinn Fein right now, not with the `peacemaker,' Prime Minister John Major."

Behind this new opening, she said, is an accelerating crisis of British imperialism, sharpened by the disintegration of the so-called new world order. "At the same time Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was gaining a worldwide platform during his tour of the United States, the Queen of England was touring Northern Ireland almost unnoticed either in the streets or the media," the Communist League leader reported.

"At the turn of the century the sun never set on the British empire. The wealthy families of Britain controlled one-fifth of the land in the world and ruled over one-quarter of the earth's population," FitzGerald said. Today, the weak position of British imperialism can be seen in the collapse of Barings bank, an institution that financed the rise of British imperialism. "Any way you look at it - from the position of Britain's military, to the weakness of the economy, to alliances with other imperialist powers - Britain's independent role in the world is long over," she said. "This deep crisis puts strains on the state structure, which is a Kingdom made up of four countries, not a united republic. This whole structure of the United Kingdom is becoming a lot less united."

Communist League leader Tony Hunt, in a report on "Imperialism's March Toward Fascism and War," published in New International no. 10, focused on the problems facing British imperialism at home and abroad.

In their attempts to press forward their fight to reverse the social wage of working people, drive down the standard of living, and push back democratic rights, the employers and their government in Britain are running into problems. "There is a massive gap between what they announce they want to do and what they can actually accomplish," Hunt said.

For example, plans for privatization of the railways and postal service are beginning to run into opposition. The newly privatized electric industry is the object of mounting controversy, as rates workers pay have skyrocketed and the profits of the company and bonuses paid to management have gone way up as well. The failure of the government to push back the rail unions, thereby opening up a potentially lucrative industry for privatization, has set back plans to turn this nationalized industry over to private capital.

During the weekend of the congress, 10,000 people marched in London protesting proposed cuts in education. The following week nurses demanding the government pay them more than the one percent pay raise they have been offered set up 400 lunch-time picket lines.

"The pound sterling is now in decline even relative to the Spanish peseta and the Italian lira," Hunt said. "U.S. president Bill Clinton announced he won't come to the World War II Victory in Europe events planned in London, preferring to go to Russia instead, and the U.S. ruling families are making headway in dislodging Britain as the main investor in Ireland!" Hunt noted.

The ill fortunes of British imperialism have even been the topic of recent remarks by government minister Kenneth Clarke. In a Daily Mail article headlined, "The feel-good gap," Clarke was quoted saying that "people aren't going to feel more secure, more comfortable that we're going to get rising prosperity...for another couple of years at least. I think it could go through the nineties." The Daily Telegraph criticized Clarke, saying his honesty was "a debatable asset."

The Labour Party, a bourgeois labor party, continues to move to the right. "Labour leader Tony Blair is winning the fight in the party to replace Clause 4 of the Labour Party Constitution. The clause says that workers should receive the fruits of their labor through securing public ownership of industry. Blair wants to replace this with the need for a `dynamic market economy.'

"Added to this is the fact that the labor movement has been in retreat in the face of government and employer attacks. As a result," he said, "the leadership of the Trades Union Congress [TUC], the trade union federation in Britain, has a declining influence in bourgeois politics. TUC general- secretary John Monk's views are rarely even mentioned in the media."

Defending Cuba's socialist revolution
At the same time congress participants described the openings for young people and workers entering into struggle today in strikes and skirmishes and protest actions against racist assaults, attacks on the social wage, and in defense of Irish prisoners.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the Cuban revolution was the central theme of a Militant Labor Forum addressed by New International editor Mary-Alice Waters. Some 100 people attended the forum, "Defending Cuba, Defending Cuba's Socialist Revolution," held in conjunction with the congress.

The next morning delegates continued discussion on the main political questions addressed during the forum presentation.

"If we try to put Cuba under a microscope, isolated from the rest of the world, we won't understand what is happening there. To accurately gauge where the Cuban revolution is at today, and what the working class is accomplishing, Cuba must be seen as part of the world, facing the capitalist economic crisis in the 1990s," Waters said.

The economic hardship, decline in industrial production, and drop in imports and exports has been called a "special period" by Cubans. "But Cuba is not the only country living through a `special period,' " Waters said. "Look at what is happening to workers and peasants in Mexico today."

But working people in Cuba have a tremendous advantage over their brothers and sisters in Mexico, Waters pointed out. Mexican working people face a concerted drive by the capitalist government of their own country and by the U.S. imperialists. In Cuba, she said, working people and youth are utilizing the conquests of their socialist revolution - nationalized property relations, a workers and farmers government, and a high level of class consciousness - to mitigate to the greatest possible extent the impact of the world economic crisis, which for them has been exacerbated by the disruption of trade and aid previously received from the Soviet Union.

"In face of the economic shortages in Cuba, a retreat has been necessary," Waters said, "to give ground to find a new line of defense that can be maintained. How far that retreat has to go will not be decided in Cuba alone. It will depend on what happens in the rest of the world.

"For us the important fact is the Cuban working class' resistance to giving more ground than necessary," Waters continued. "The Cuban working class is the most powerful army on our side" as workers around the world resist capitalism's march toward fascism and war. That is why "defense of the living socialist revolution in Cuba remains at the center of world politics."

Roberto de Armas, first secretary of the Cuban Embassy in London, brought greetings from the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party to the congress. "On this special occasion we express to you our sincere gratitude for the numerous demonstrations of solidarity that have bound us together in the struggle for the defense of our independence, national sovereignty, and the right to continue forward along the socialist option chosen by the Cuban people," read the greetings. Although Washington is "today intensifying its criminal and illegal blockade against our country we reaffirm our determination to resist and win."

Building the Communist League
"Defense of the Cuban revolution is the number one priority of the Communist League coming out of this congress," said Jonathan Silberman in the report, "Organizing the Communist League and Building the Young Socialists."

"Defending Cuba is an integral part of building a communist party of the working class in Britain, both because of the place of the Cuban revolution in the world and for advancing an internationalist consciousness among workers and youth," Silberman said. The success of the World Conference in Solidarity with Cuba held in Havana last October, which drew 3,000 people from around the globe, and a recent speaking tour in Britain of Cuban youth leader Pavel Diaz, are examples of the potential to reach out to win new forces to this fight, he said.

Central to this effort will be deepening the involvement of communist workers and young socialists in the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC), the main group in Britain that organizes solidarity activities with Cuba. This summer the CSC is sponsoring a youth tour and brigade to Cuba, in collaboration with the Cuba's Union of Young Communists. Some 3,000 young people and others from around the world are expected to attend a week-long "Cuba lives" festival sponsored by youth organizations in Cuba, followed by work brigades and informational tours.

"Building this brigade along with other organizations in Britain will be at the center of our work," Silberman proposed, "which will help strengthen the CL's ability to reach out to a new generation of youth who are beginning to say `No' to the increasing horrors of the capitalist economic and social order."

Young Socialists from Britain held their own meeting on an evening of the congress set aside for that purpose. Two youth from Manchester described meetings with 80 students in four classes at a high school to discuss the January International Youth Brigade to Cuba. In Sheffield, a similar meeting is planned for university students, hosted by a newly formed Cuba student society. In London, Young Socialist members explained how they sold five copies of New International no. 10 as part of getting involved in protest actions.

Frances Rogan, a 19-year-old young socialist from Manchester, summed up her view of the Communist League Congress. "It is such a massive inspiration to be here with other young people who are political, are thinking about politics, and are out doing something about it. I'll be taking this experience back to Manchester with me," she said.

One person joined the YS at the congress and a member of the YS decided to join the Communist League.

"Strengthening our work among union members in industry is an important part of turning to the political openings to defend Cuba, support the Irish freedom struggle, and join with those going on strike or hitting the streets in protest action," Silberman said. He noted that CL members have been among youth and others benefiting from an upturn in hiring in key industries in the country, thereby strengthening the spread of unions and big plants in which communists work.

Several delegates noted that despite continued high unemployment, employers in several industries are hiring younger workers in hopes of imposing more speedup and worse conditions on the job in an attempt to improve their profit margins and competitive advantage.

But big business is not having such an easy go of it, Chris Morris, an engineering worker from Manchester, pointed out. Phillips Power Semi Conductors, where he works, ran into stiff opposition to enacting a compulsory 12-hour shift. "This created an opening to talk about why the eight-hour day was an important social conquest of the labor movement, as well as how the unions need a political strategy not just to reject this proposal but to shorten the workweek with no cut in pay to create jobs and forge unity between the employed and unemployed," he said.

Carol Bell, a TGWU member, spoke about the daily resistance at her factory to speedup. "It puts us in the same trench as workers in Cuba, and we can look to and point out to others how they've fought to defend their socialist revolution," she said.

"It was hard to discuss Ireland in the past in the unions," said Ann Fiander, also an engineering worker from Manchester. "This was in part because the union officials stood in the way of simply having the discussion. Now, it's a different world. Workmates coming from Belfast talk about what's happening in the north of Ireland. Even when rightist forces in Britain launched a campaign to free a British soldier imprisoned for murdering a young Irish woman in Belfast, workers debated this and it opened up an opportunity to explain the Irish fight for self-determination."

To carry out the work of the Communist League a fund of 5,000 (US$1=1.60) was launched to be completed by July. By the end of the congress, participants had pledged 2,000. Delegates also elected a new central committee to organize the party to carry out the decisions of the congress and lead the work of the league over the coming year.

Stephen Jenner and Ron Poulsen also contributed to this article.  
 
 
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