On the Question of Splitting the Movement

The bourgeoisie is preparing to bring the Labour Party back into government at the next general election, and keep the electorate marginalised and depoliticised in order that it may consolidate its reactionary programme of the "Third Way".

Tony Blair has declared that the class struggle is over, that ideology is a thing of the past, and that everyone should unite in their communities and enter into a partnership with government. It is on the basis of this deception, carried out in the name of "the nation" and embodying their "political will", that the bourgeoisie hopes to keep the workers' movement split and in disarray. The workers are to be encouraged to disbelieve the evidence of their own eyes, their own life experience, and believe that the foundations for a way out of the crisis have been laid, and the "tough choice" now is to elect Labour to finish the job.

To overcome the split and disarray in the workers' movement, the workers need to rally themselves and all the progressive forces around their independent programme, which is summed up in the fighting call to stop paying the rich and increase investments in social programmes. However, they are still being put under pressure to conciliate with the policy of the bourgeoisie to bring the Labour Party back into government. This pressure is being applied in various ways, one of which is to call for backing the election of a Labour government to avoid splitting the working class movement or to avoid splitting the "left".

Unless the workers take up politics on their own account and unite around and take up themselves a programme which is independent of the programme of the bourgeoisie to block the road to progress and socialism, they will actually remain split. This is because in the name of ending all that represents the "forces of conservatism", the Labour Party is winning over broad sections of the workers' movement to the "Third Way" programme under the promise that better is to come in the future. How is this promise to be realised? There is no glimmer of an independent working class programme in what the Labour Party is proposing.

What the workers should split from is the notion that they can hope to win their emancipation and defend their interests by handing over their struggle to any other force. There is an alternative to the "Third Way" programme, but it requires the workers and all progressive and democratic forces to build it consciously and through their own efforts and in the course of struggle. Workers have begun to take this path over the last four years, and there is no reason for them to be diverted from this line of march by the imposition of a General Election by Tony Blair.

John Denham, Minister for Health, was invited to speak on the final day of the Conference. As he entered the hall a number of delegates held up posters No To PFI and two delegates who attempted to deploy a banner opposing PFI at the front were whisked away by stewards. The chair pleaded with delegates to return to their seats and listen to their guest speaker.

John Denham then proceeded smiling into the hall making light of the matter saying that really he had expected such a reception last year but had not been received by one, trying to win his audience with a genial and personable tone. "Four years ago we told the British people that they had 24 hours to save the NHS," he informed delegates as if they were hearing this remarkable fact for the first time. By now many who had heard the Minister speak last year must have been wondering if he had mistakenly brought last year's speech instead of this year's when he said that the government "had made a good start". Nurses sat in disbelief when he spoke about the 17,000 new nurses working alongside them. The list was endless, "The biggest sustained investment the NHS has ever seen." This was without doubt last year's speech. What had happened in the meantime? The Minister admitted that somebody had complained about his repeated "visions" on the NHS. Yes, but were they right? No, they were wrong! It was important for government to have visions to aim at. This left delegates wondering. Maybe it was in a vision that he had seen his list of things that New Labour had done.

He continued in a light hearted vein looking out across the hall at No To PFI posters dotted about. PFI, yes this was a "difference" in beliefs with the government and New Labour. Yes, he said, of course it was a "basic" difference - but they agreed on many other things, so it was okay. And he kept referring to our "Bob", namely Bob Abberly, UNISON head of health, as if to convey to delegates not to worry about all the government is doing to turn the clock back in the NHS because we are all chums.

And then at last the serious election message. He warned any disagreement we have should not be any reason to vote for Hague and Widdicome, as though the choice lay between a basic difference between friends and a basic difference between enemies. "We must not let that happen," he pleaded. So the conclusion the delegates are left to draw is that they should forget their year and more of struggle against the introduction of PFI as it has been nothing more than a tiff between friends. With friends such as John Denham and the Labour government, who needs enemies?

The present chairman of Concern for Health in East Kent (CHEK), David Shortt, is to stand as an independent candidate at the General Election, it has been announced. David Shortt will contest the North Thanet seat. The seat is presently held by Conservative MP Roger Gale.

David Shortt says that although he is primarily connected with healthcare matters, his challenge will not be on that single issue. He said that he had been encouraged to stand by many people who were opposed to the scheme called "Tomorrow's Healthcare" which would cost £102 million but not provide one extra bed in East Kent and would ultimately lead to cuts in services and beds simply to service the debt. Explaining that he will soon publish a manifesto, David Shortt said, "This is a serious challenge - both to Mr Gale and to the juggernaut that is three-party policies. I believe that many voters are feeling increasingly disenfranchised. They are disillusioned by the Government's broken promises and tax hikes."

Mr Shortt said he believed passionately in democracy but feared the political process had been seriously devalued, particularly over the last four years.

The example of Mr Shortt is one among many where campaigners or representatives of progressive forces in struggle have declared their intention of participating as candidates in the election campaign. This trend is to be encouraged, as embodying the disillusionment with the present political system which effectively disenfranches the people by limiting their choice of vote to the party "juggernaut", and excluding those in struggle who represent the interests of the movement against the anti-social offensive. Also to be encouraged is the participation in the election campaign of those forces who represent the movement for a pro-social programme and for democratic renewal of the political system.

Jack Straw Forcibly Expels Asylum Seekers

It has been reported in the press that the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, has begun a programme of forced mass expulsions of asylum seekers. In line with the government's inhuman and racist treatment of asylum seekers, the expulsions are being carried out in secret using chartered aircraft, according to the report.

Teachers' Action Hits Kent

Hundreds of pupils in Kent have been put on a four-day week as teachers pursue their action in refusing to cover extra lessons because of staff shortages. The policy of making teachers cover lessons due to other teachers' absences and chronic lack of staff has been putting the teachers under intolerable strain. David Blunkett, the Education Secretary, is totally to be condemned for blaming the teachers for damaging the pupils' "life chances".

Protesters have forced the train delivering waste from reprocessed nuclear fuel to a German storage site to retreat. Police decided to reverse the train a few miles to the next station while trying to clear the track. The authorities are now planning that the cargo should continue its journey by road.

Organisers said that 10,000 people are taking part in the protests. The campaigners have blocked the rails, and some chained and cemented themselves to the rails. The protesters have been resisting the attempts of the police to remove them in clashes which left dozens injured, as police used water cannon against them. Some 600 protesters were arrested. Riot police have sent reinforcements to the northern German town of Dannenberg about 12 miles from the waste dump. About 20,000 police have been in action. This is one of the biggest peacetime security operations Germany has ever seen.

The train was transferring six casks of nuclear waste from a French plant that reprocesses fuel rods from German reactors. The six containers containing 250 tonnes of highly radioactive waste were due to be unloaded on reaching Dannenberg and transferred to lorries for a 16-mile road journey to Gorleben.

A banner unfurled by protesters shortly before the convoy pulled out of Valognes station in France had read: "Nuclear waste is dangerous for a long, long, long time - stop the nuclear train!" Greenpeace countered the statement of Juergen Trittin, Germany's Environment Minister and a member of the Green party, that the latest waste shipment is "now happening under acceptable political conditions" by pointing out that the safety conditions surrounding the shipments are certainly not acceptable. France and Germany suspended shipments of nuclear material to one another in 1998 after some containers were found to have radioactive leaks. The present shipment is the first since then.

Helen Wallace, a senior scientist based in Britain has argued that, while the German government has taken "some action" to step up safety measures, current international standards governing shipment fail to take adequate account of potential perils. She has cited cases of "near misses" in the past where container-flasks have fallen off cargoes. Greenpeace has pointed out that a serious fire on a nuclear convoy could raise temperatures to levels beyond the range of current testing with potentially dire consequences. All the protesters want Germany to shut down its nuclear reactors immediately and not wait until the 19 reactors are phased out, which would not be until 2025.

The German convoy is the latest in a number of nuclear shipments around the world to have aroused protests over the past several weeks. On Saturday, a British ship with a heavily armed escort arrived in Japan from France with a cargo of plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) for use in a nuclear power plant. The ship faced a string of protests from France via Fiji to Niigata, its final port in Japan. Anger has been further aroused among the Japanese people by the scandal in which British Nuclear Fuels falsified documents in relation to MOX shipments. In another incident, an Australian ship carrying spent nuclear fuel is being prevented from unloading its cargo in Normandy, France, by an injunction won by Greenpeace.