Vol. 71/No. 17      April 30, 2007

Responding to the release of 15 marines and sailors Tehran had captured, Clifford said, “Whilst London has been humiliated—its weakness and declining position in the world exposed—it will not back away, but accelerate changes in its armed forces to ratchet up the imperialist pressure on Iran.”

“Hands off Iran,” and “British Troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan,” read the CL election campaign signs on the literature table. Clifford reported that many passersby agreed that now almost everything that happens in Iraq is blamed on Tehran as a way to gain support for squeezing Iran financially, isolating the country politically, and setting the stage for possible military action by Washington and London against Tehran in the future.

A statement issued by the Communist League election campaign while the 15 troops were held said, “When the heat is on, all the capitalist parties unite to defend their class interests. So the fakery of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Liberal Democrats criticisms of the war in Iraq or over Trident is made clear by their unity with the government today over Iran and Afghanistan.” Trident refers to London's submarine-launched ballistic nuclear weapons system.

Clifford emphasized that even if the SNP gets the largest vote in the coming elections, as most media here predict, this will not change the course of imperialist war by the ruling class. The CL election campaign statement points out that London’s denial of Scotland's national rights is not answered by the SNP, which calls for a Scotland "like Norway or Ireland," both small capitalist countries.

“Labour, Tory and SNP—they all seek to tie the fortunes of working people to those of the capitalist class—be it north or south of the border,” the CL statement says.

On April 12, Clifford also joined pickets at Grampian Country Food Group in Cambuslang. Workers at six Grampian plants struck that day after being denied a wage increase. Many were also concerned about their pensions. Clifford, a meat worker at a Grampian plant not affected by the walkout, extended solidarity to the strikers, promising to report on their efforts to his workmates.

Clifford joined discussion on how the company had brought in agency (temporary) workers, mainly from eastern Europe, to maintain production. He drew attention to the League’s election campaign statement that points to how workers from other countries can be drawn in to strengthen the unions.

“Two strikers were particularly interested in how the actions last May Day by U.S. workers for legalization of all immigrants had been a gain for all,” Clifford told the Militant. “They were also receptive to the need to organize agency workers into the unions.”
 
 
Related articles:
British rulers ‘humiliated’ over capture of 15 soldiers
London, Washington try to squeeze Iran
U.S. occupiers to cordon off parts of Baghdad
Free 5 Iranians U.S. holds in Iraq  
 
 
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