Verdict on Green Paper

us nes = oO a Work - sharing In fact any work-sharing, any new jobs will be financed out of our Wages. On top of that we will be expected to do the same amourt 1ere platitude wes unique Was drafted tefcre Si. t Which it ir time Long overdue the Leaders st cut out these “ite' and Attack Is Irish society so impover{shed and backward that it cannot guarantee everybody the basic precondition of life, that is a job? No, the truth is that capitalism is such a corrupt and outdated system that it is unable o take advantage of count) technica’ and productive -ements which could be transforned i real gains for workers al families.

the youth has now kicked the voters in the teeth. And for the most Wilnerable sections of society It has used both feet. Thus for the ill there are higher bospital and doctor's charges. For the young seeking higher education there will be higher fees and lower grants. For the efollations and poasing election Ez 1 Bll & future and especially mem loyed there will be a tax on welfare benefits. It is precisely the unemployed, the elderly and the sick who will be most hurt by the decisions to butid fewer council houses chareing bigher > Wipe ott the subs food stuffs, milk, butcer and the subsi Fail intené to imtridtce wheat they call ‘Special Outdoor Stafr' to snoop and spy on the recipienta of welfare benefits while oF course continuing to tirn a biind-eye to the wholesale evasion of texea by the wealthy.

Green Paper is afeence ‘Lo < ee oo With @& migt » trade unions, ane and other The Unions erlisace has show tisk the are not likely to Such «a demand.

PD/MSR The paper of a revolutionary organisation is "a major weapon in the struggie", Using the experlence of members and supporters of the organ{sation it will "analyse struggles" and"put foward a strategy for militants,"

Five months after the Soctalist Republic, joint paper of the PD/MSP, was launched, how Has it Iived up to these aims (put foward in the joint aims of PD/MSF published in the last [ssue)? What role has {t played in the frsion © process? these and other questions were discussed at a national PD/MSRF day school in Dublin at the end of June, attended by members from Dublin, Limerick, | Cork, and Belfast.

ie Up to socialist and other ads unlon activists to get tother end raise this issue withwhe trade union movement. A ght must be initiated to win ¢ tank ant file te the demande fa So -hour week. A atart keg ready Seen made with the sdoptn of thie demand by the Social~ t Lavour Farty. In the comizg must be built in ; and Workplaces for Ato ne cure Ake [eho week ji oC Then. Fianna l ani the b @.will rnow at the workers’ fightback is ror +4 ed by the Eoropesn Trade eolution ion: Cernfe: 1 (ETU C) which presents million Workein J9 , including elard. Th cy 5 the UC's a: a er ment Tt was clear from the cussion that the new Socst Republic, the firat jant ture of the two organisations & played a vital role in ‘eloping the fusion process, 2 joint production of a er had meant di- cussing aspects of building a joint anisation and a jolnt intertion, There was the eral feelinc that the first ple of issues had reflected ie of the problems of fustion= 7 were simply FD articals MSF articals added togar, Ent building a united olutionary party is not just westidm of adding two groups ther,‘ but a process of Heal ‘development in which { mistakes are learnt from past successes are built, m. From which a new fanisation with the benefit their combined experience ; emerge, thet there are plawtty of epportunities and Pacilities to creste We are no. prepared to ac % the insutiaz arpumest craace Thom joe Url the ij : :

Mph 3 a fm m m A & orisis, pranote end 50% Q fi ni ol leaders have done nothing ta win these demands and they remain To do this the paper has to take up the issues being discussed in the anti-imperlalist and workers movement and to provide a focus for debate and activity around important political issues, wg at the same time develop& its own political ideas, difficulty was the regular monthly production of the paper, which had not yet been achieved, This was due to the initial , difficulties of a joint paper and also-to the increasing attacks on the opposition press by the British, Steps were made to appoint an editorial committee and establish a network of paper correspondents ‘ throughout the two organisations, “6 always the severest prolems were financial and technical, The regular production of a paper in which all The ETUC catd: "We believe J208; We Want theac joba sow asl oF Tormal edusat 3-tole of taking militaney among & everywhere who were beter.ise thet they slid have so 1 ULL oo thas = +) és Caution which vould Workerg!’ interests af the profit Tn four years the trade union { the members are an immense task for still a small organis of course finance fo overcoming man these problems, the ley to providing equipment, produc ee of literature, jou as added weapons in # of ideas and to providing MSF militants with resources fo put in the struggles develop-| Ing and to building the joint organisations, To this end it was decided to launch a major But ultimately the success of the joint paper depends on the political development of the two organisations and their ability to develop a clear programme which militants can debate and try out in practice, And readers can play their part in this process by making thelr views known, through activity, discussion, letters, providing information, contributing to the fund drive, selling the paper in their work-place or area and ultimately by joining the fused organtsation,

‘@ It is no longer possible to read an article on Black Africa in the international press without running across scare stories about 'Soviet-Cuban expaheionism' and huge massacres of 'innocent' whites. We are being asked to believe that the Western DOWErs are (reluctantly) being forced to shoulder the (white man's) burden of protecting civilisation from a sinister and deadly course these claims have won little eredibility smong the African people who have had to learn the hard way, over a period of almost a century, that these high-sounding prinmenace. OF ciples e Mean nt lese The intervention of Belgian troops in tne Congo in 1960 and of French troops in Gabon in 1964, in Senegal in 1968, in Chad in I970, and in Zaire, Chad (evain), Sshara and Djibouti in-Ig9/], aswell as the feration of garrisons. and miiltery delegetions, all give a food account of Western intentions in Africa, This 11st also provides a very userul explanation of why the French government has. been iculerly eager to portray its as & defender of African interests. French President, Giscard d' aging, has even come forth with the slogan “Africa for the Africans”. In practice however, it is “Africa for the most corrupt, Gespotic and pro-imperdelist Africans". daire ia the 7 1 5 5 + * ELGEL HG Moat tliear-cut example.

teire Zaire feire's President Mobutu is an ex-nationalist who came to power in a US-backed coup in the mid-'60s. His regime is so reactionary that it helped arm and train the South African supported UNITA forces in the Angolan civil war of Ig75. This was at a time when almost all the other neo-colonial African states could see which way the wind was blowing! ‘and Gecided to back the victorious MPLA, A decisive factor in ensuring the MPLA's victory and the repwl"sion of a South African invasion Was the arrival of Cuban troops. Tt mist however, be stressed that the Cubans only intervened after the Western powers threw all their resources behind Unita and had encouraged the South African invasion. This has now been ad. mitted by the person in charge of United States CLA Angolan operations at that time! in a new book; which goes into a lot of detail over what ned, he a aske whether the Unita. He answers that they MPLA would heave won easily. = wuS. Set-back was left in a very precarious position. Angola shares a vast borders on the Shaba province.

revolt against Mobutu and many to Angola. Thus it should come ‘inveders' de Liberation du Congo (FUL — were openly welcomed when erbesed the barder in May year. was foreed to call for foréign the willingness of the UB govits forces suffered in Vietnam acity to act. There is a very Widespread anti-war sentiment in the United States and the in defence of corrupt puppet Cubans would. ihave came to the aid of the MPLA. if the US had not already backed wouldn't have had to, since the In the event the USA suffered a bad setback in the region and its most reliable client Mobutu common frontier with Zaire which Shaba has a long history of freedom fighters had been exiled 86 nO surprise to find that these from the Front National SPleshed across the Western press, vongo National Liberation Front)

they of this Almost immedietely Mobirtu panicked and lost his grip, and aid. There can be no doubt about ermment to agree to this request.

International.

However, the humiliating defeat has severely curtailed ita capgovernment is not yet in 6 position to risk foreign adventures Instead we were treated to a few nauseating ‘human rights’

speeches by Jimmy Carter in which he attacked Cuban ‘ageression'. But no-one should imagine that US"imperialism is totally paralysed - Carter approved the provision of 20 million dollars worth of military assistance to Mobutu, $17.5 million in "nonlethal" equipment end #2.5 million to train ‘adrian general staff officers in the USA, = France moves in France came along to do the real dirty work. The excuse was that 2,000 whites were being held as hostages in Kolwezi. Lurid accounts of how rebele were ruthlesaly wiping out Europeans were As might by now have been expectgets the truth turned out to be different. The bulk of the killings appear to have been conducted by Mobutu"s troops. These same troops were also responsible for revenge killings and massacres of the black population which went unreported in the West.

= European Solidarity Ag things stand now the FIC has temporarily withdrawn and Mobutu's hold on state power is shakier than ever. Furthermore, the imperialist intervention has not gone unchallenged. In one of the bigger protests against French intervention in Africa since the Algerian war, 15000 marched in Paris in June. They carried signs ‘guch as "NO TO GISCARD'S INTER. VENTION IN AFRICA" end "INDOCHINA ALGERIA, THAT’§ ENOUGH! NO TO COLONIALISMI" This march was organised by the French Commmdist Party and a number of far-left groups, including the Ligue Commmniste Revolutionnaire (LCR. Revolutionary Commmist League), French Section of the Fourth There is a lot at stake in the struggle against imperialism in Africa. Africa is of crucial importance to the imperialists in terms of trade and as a source of raw materials. Th- growth of SEE PAGE s ——

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Fs ‘Limerick Workers demonstrate

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