Amnesty Report Spells Out Torture | S.l.p Conference- a Step Backwards

the national of a real working-class party. first policy conference, ection has’ the conference mapped out?

REFORMISM One of the problems with reformist parties like the Labour Party is the absence of effective party democracy. The parliamentarians hold control, ignore conference decisions and define party policy to suit themselves, Regrettably, this tendency exists in In the last issue of Socialist Republic we discussed the formation of the Socialist Labour Party (SLP). We welcomed it's formation as a valuable contribution to the development of working-class action in the 26-counties. but warned that an over-emphasis on parliamentary activity and lack of clarity on question represented dangers for the for mation Recently the SLP- had it's How has it developed and what dirthe SLP, This was clear-. ly shown by Dr, Noel Brown's pre-empting the conference discussion on the national question when he made a major personal statement on the issue, (For comment on the speech see inside pages). At the conference itself the leadership absented itself from major debates - their attitude suggesting they didn't.feel themselves bound by the conference decisions, Over 200 delegates attended the Dublin conference, debating policy documents issue, on the oppression of women, agriculture,th: national question and the economy.

A large number of amendments were put to each document and with a crowded agenda debate tended to be become rushed at times, It became clear during the conference that this reflected political confusion and disagreement within the party. This was most apparent in the debate on the national question and on the economy when the question of how the party should relate to socialist and non-socialist forces became a contentious NATIONAL QUESTION An amendment to the document on the national question, calling for a constituent assembly over all 32-counties and deeming the call for contd. on page 4