“attacks. There are no mass street committees or resistance…”

attacks. There are no mass street committees or resistance councils. A boycott would be a call to voters to abstain from action and would allow the enemies of the prisoners to retain their seats. In the elections we want to demonstrate massive popular opposition to British rule and expose those who are effectively supporting that rule.

The crisis of British rule is shown by the hunger strike campaign. They are prepared to go to any lengths and bring any amount of suffering and death down on our community rather than concede the simple and legitimate demands of the prisoners At the same time they allow Paisley and the UDA to organise without restriction, They have learnt nothing from ten years of -struggle and their policy is still the use of force to preserve partiton and all the injustice and repression that flows from it.

The record of British economic domination is just as sordid, A sky-high cost of living is linked to low wage levels, constant unemployment and inadequate . social services. And the screw is ' wound even tighter by the Infamous "Payments of Debts "Act. Now we are being asked to pay for an international crisis of capitalism, with unemployment at 50% in some areas and the dismantling of social services while massive handouts are given to multinational firms.

We need to organise a fightback against both political and economic oppression, We see the first step as challanging people like Gerry Fitt and Paddy Devlin who are supporting British policy and usiiig the name of socialism to do so. They and the Republican clubs claim to stand in the tradition of Connolly's socialism yet they oppose organising to support the political prisoners and oppose partition. Their solution to the crisis of Britain's economic rule is-more money for the multinationals. This ignores the fact that the money FERGUS O'HARE comes from cuts in social services and that the multinationals! profits actually weaken the Irish economy rather than strengthen it. The milk and water nationalists of the SDLP are no better, They spawned Fitt and Devlin, and their ambiguity on the hunger strike helped strengthen British oppression. A first step in orgainsing to defend ourselves is to repudiate them at the polls and show that they do not represent us. PARTITION, CUTS. offensive against the prisoners, We see our intervention in the elections as a continuation of that history of struggle.

THE HUNGER STRIKE and We unreservedly support the demands of the prisoners and hold the British responsible for the crisis and we believe that this struggle involves a challange to the whole mass of the Irish people . The British are attacking not only the rights of the prisoners but also all democratic rights. They are trying to establish the Diplock Courts, the special laws, the bias towards Loyalism in the courts and state forces beyond criticism and dispute. In other words they are trying to legiti-mise partition and smash the anti-partitionist case. We are fighting for a mass united movement in all 32 counties to resist this process.

UNEMPLOYMENT and the If we need to resist political oppression we also need to resist economic oppression. We aim to organise in the areas among the unemployed and in the Trade Unions around this simple slogan 'Welre not to blame" -that we will simply not accept the cuts and the idea that we should pay for Capitalism!s mistakes and that we must aim to force the British to retreat from their attacks on employment, wages, social services housing and education, We are out to build a united workers movement against imperialism. We oppose the spurious unity of the trade union leadership, built on passive support for partition. We want workers to unite in a struggle which will take as its first task the defence of democratic rights and opposition to sectarianism and discrimination in favour of the oppressed —- for example one third of all jobs in industry cies hit women workers worst. They are asked to bear the brunt of the cutbacks In the family. On top of this they face massive legal, social and political discrimination. We oppose all forms of discrimination against women. We support their right to control their own lives indep— endently of church or state, and we fight for an all-Ireland womens movement to defend their rights.

A REAL ALTERNATIVE P.D. is offering a real and radical alternative in this election. We are spearheading a fight-back in defence of the prisoners, against partition and in defence of democratic rights. We are building a real workers unity — based on revolutionary change rather than acceptance of the status quo. We are offering a method of popular organisation and struggle that the people of your area will be able to use after the elections have come and gone, Peoples Democracy is standing in support of the five demands of the prisoners and we pledge not to take our seats until the H Block/Armagh issue is resolved, This does not mean that you will be disenfranchised. We pledge to carry out constituency work, set up advice centres and organise action committees in the constituencies, YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE FOLLOWING PLATFORM:

1) Defence of the political prisoners and political status.

2) Against partition. Immediate British withdrawal and disbandment of the RUC.

3) Support for all democratic rights. Defence of the rights of anti-imperialists, trade unionists and women. For affirmatIve action in employment for anti-unionist workers.

4) For a fight against austerity measures and cutbacks, and the building of a fightback in the unions, among the unemployed and In the communities.