black unions lead struggle
In the last few years, the black workers movement in Southern Africa has, despite repression, become an active and powerful force on the political scene. This has been shown by numerous strikes; and some first precious gains in the field of organisation, with the appearance of independent trade unions organising tens of thousands of black workers.
This is a tremendously important development for the future of the revolutionary process in Southern Africa. The article we publish below shows this through a detailed analysis of the present situation of the black trade union movement in the Republic of South Africa.
This poses new and fundamental tasks for international solidarity with the struggle of the oppressed masses under the Pretoria regime. There are many imperialist multi-nationals which extract profits from the masses exploited by the apartheid regime, which denies the most basic democratic rights to the non-white population and workers. Despite all the 'Codes of Conduct' which they have pretended to adopt these imperialist companies refuse to allow the same basic trade union rights to Southern African workers that they have been forced to concede to workers in the same companies and industries in the imperialist countries.
The Western workers movement has a particular responsibility to fulfil in its efforts to force the bosses and the imperialist countries to recognise the trade-union rights of 12
Independent
against apartheid
the black workers in Southern Africa. Many actions can be taken to help the Southern African trade-union militants. Contact can be made between workers in the same companies and industries. The Western workers movement must also defend trade-union militants attacked by the racist state. For example, the 'suicide of Neil Aggett organised by the repressive forces must be widely denounced.
The trade unions of factories and companies which invest in Southern Africa must inform Western workers of the real situation of black workers there, popularising their strug. gle and denouncing the repression which is visited upon them. Militant solidarity actions should be taken when a strike breaks out in the Southern African subsidiary of an international company.
Militants of the Fourth International employed by companies which have investments or subsidiaries in Southern Africa will participate actively in this struggle which goes alongside the general mobilisations against all the different forms of aid that the advanced capitalist countries give the racist regime of Southern Africa. This is the best countribution that revolutionary marxists can make to the struggle of the black working class in Southern Africa.
Vincent KERMEL
Minister of Labour announced on Feb-
2, 1973: "The course of the Natal strikes showed that they were not simply wages....Everything indicates that these actions were organised, and strikers used for some other objective than simply gaining a wage rise.' (1)
These strikes were to constitute a reference for the nuclei who would build independent unionism. The history of the Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU) is an example. The Trade Union Advisory and Coformed in 1973. It brought together five trade unions that were not registered by the Natal authorities. Among them were two unions in significant sectors of local industry: the Metal and Allied Workers Union and the National Union of Textile
Later, on the basis of the growth of such efforts throughout the country, this initial organisation formed FOSATU.
At the moment, among the more organisations, there are two federations and several sec-
The federations are the FOSATU, which has already been mentioned, and the Council of Unions of South Africa, CUSA. The first defines itself as 'non-racial'; but the second still bases itself on the ideology of 'black consciousness. That is, it wants to only orthem to be the vanguard. (3) workers, considering
The FOSATU comprises 11 sectoral unions which had 95,000 members at the end of 1981, representing a 60% growth
This federation is estimated to have 1,500 shop stewards and to be in a majority position in 387 factories. strongest member unions are the MAWU in metalworking with 24,300 members, and the PWAWU in the wood and paper with 8,300 members. FOSATU claimed victory in 53 out of the
Thus, 1973 was a turning point in 90 strikes called in 1981. swept Southern Africa at the beginning of
To understand the importance of this it should be set against a background of twenty years of retreat.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the mass movement, in which the industrial working class had not yet appeared as the vanguard, suffered a clear defeat. fifteen-year period of popular agitation and resistance to apartheid was ended by the massacres at Sharpeville (March 21, 1960) and at Langa and the banning of the African National Council (ANC), and the Pan-Africanist Congress (formed from a split in the ANC in 1958 led by Robert Sobukwe). These mobilisations had been directed against the 'Pass Laws' and police surveillance of Africans which made blacks foreigners in their own country.
The mass movement did not begin to reemerge until the 1970s. point of the slow rebirth of combativity came in 1973 when there was a big strike in Natal, particularly in Durban. The importance of this event escaped many observers. since World War II the industrial working class had moved to the front line of the
This was a result of the development of the Southern African
There was significant industrial growth which led to the emergence of big concentrations of workers.
This strike wave was the crucible that forged the first experiences that prepared the way for independent black
The rise of black unionism got its initial impetus from the struggle in Naand the national effects of these ac-
The Durban strikes involved about 100,000 workers during the first quarter of 1973, principally in construction, textiles, and municipal services. started on wages but led on to confrontations with the Southern African and imperialist capitalists, with the state and its
This was inevitable, given the extent to which racial discrimination is a logical consequence of the capitalist drive for maximum profits. The the development of the struggle in South-
This was confirmed by the Soweto youth uprising and the youth uprisings in other townships which took place after June 16, 1976. followed by the new workers offensive starting in 1980. According to the National Manpower Commission the number of strikes in 1981 rose by 65% over the previous year, reaching the 1973 level with 342 strikes and work stoppages. Some 92,842 workers took part in these actions, and 206,255 workdays were lost, more than in 1980. Not even in 1973 had workers struggles cost the capitalists so dear. But the Cape Times of February 15, 1982, commenting on these figures pointed out that they only re-
These strikes were touched off by such issues as wages, work conditions, and attempts to repress union activities as as the demand that employers reTHE ORGANISATION OF TRADE UNIONS TODAY It is estimated that some 200,000 workers are members of the various independent trade unions. (2) Their members are those who have refused to join the official trade unions, organised on a racist basis, most notably the Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA). this organisation, the 'African' workers are not allowed to be in the same union as their 'Coloured' and 'Asian' comrades, let alone with whites. The TUCSA collaborates totally with the regime. and this is the least we can say about it. it is nothing more than the trade union of the white labour aristocracy. tions, many more than 200,000 workers identified with the independent union movement. A lot of workers in small workplaces, or who feared repression, were not members of any trade union, but this did not mean that they supported the struggle any the less.
The CUSA was formed in September 1980 in Johannesburg, but some of the unions which formed it date from the first half of the 1970s. At its formation, it claimed 30,000 members in seven sectoral unions. These included the laundry workers, both of which have been involved in recent struggles.
Apart from these two federations, a large number of unaffiliated unions, some of which are growing into
The South African Allied Workers Union, for example, also came from the 'black consciousness' movement. It was formed in 1977, and today claims 80,000 members, principally in the Eastern Cape and Durban. It has been in the centre of a strike and solidarity boycott with the workers of the Wilson-Rowntree confectionery factory.
Smaller, but just as active, the General Workers Union (GWU) was created in 1978 as the Western Province GWU, as it was originally based in the Cape Province. Its active membership is about 20,000.
canning workers union also claims some 20,000 members. It is divided into two branches-the Food and Canning Workers Union and the Afri-
Food and Canning Workers Union. The first is registered by the authorities; the second is not.
There is another important union, the Motor Assemblers and Components Workers Union-MACWUSA. This is a split from FOSATU and is principally based in certain car plants. from the press of the trade unions. scription payers and active militants. rise in membership is so rapid, these figures can of date as soon as they are this racist policy of division of the oppressed masses, the unifying term 'black' is sometimes used.
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WERE GONNA Fight FIGHT FIGHT AGAINST APARTHEID by Nathan PALMER and Peter BLUMER
THE ATTITUDE OF
THE WHITE AUTHORITIES
It would be a big mistake to think that the regime has willingly let these inunions develop. stage of their recent growth, they have been threatened. balance of forces between the masses, the regime, the heads of the nationals, and the liberal opposition that has protected them thus far.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the government banned the South Congress of Trade Unions, which was linked to the ANC, and at that time had around 50,000 members. Today SACTU is only a set of initials and an apparatus which the ANC can use to intervene in certain international conferences.
The main labour laws in force during the 1973 strikes were the Wages Act and the Industrial Conciliation Act. These laws are combined with a system of Industrial Councils in which Africans are recombativity and an accomodation to the generated by the needs of modern capitalism.
THE RIEKERT AND WIEHAHN
COMMISSIONS
The first commission, which was in fact simply Dr. Riekert, was to produce proposals on the 'African' living zones. These were to exclude 'Africans' definitively from the 'white zones', was not already the case, and confirm the which are a sort of urban native reservation, and the Bantustans. also quite simply native reservations, but are supposed to be 'independent states'. Thus, in the white zones, employment of 'Africans' is strictly on a temporary-
That is, South Africa is country for workers 'coming from the "independent" Bantustan states'
The Wiehahn commission was to consider the rights, particularly tradesations, such as the community associations whose growth and increasing combativity were an important factor in the general movement of which the trade unions were a part. It is not at all surprising that the question of registration has become one of the most debated and controversial the independent trade union The FOSATU, for example, includes a number of registered unions. It explains that this is a tactical choice; that it does not want to engage in premature tests of strength with the government. It considers that such an approach could be detrimental to the first stage of implantation and stabilisation of unions in the
When the government is looking to attack the union movement, it is more easily able to find openings for doing so with the nonregistered unions, which are in a more precarious situation in relation to the regulations. The SAAWU and the union rights, of black workers. Confron- GWU, for example, have been recent tarpresented by whites. Thus, in accordance with them, collective agreements were 'negotiated' outside the workplaces, and control of the workers. After 1973, new legislation was put into practice. The main innovation was to allow African workers to participate in the Industrial Councils, without à vote, as long as none of the other members objected. Also proposed was the constitution of Liaison Committees, in which half the members would be elected by black workers and the other half appointed by the company management.
But these new arrangements did not grant African workers the right to strike. The work stoppages they supposedly permitted in a few cases could always be outlawed by the Minister of Labour under the pretext that they amounted to "sabotage',
"terrorism', or 'communism'. Following the riots in the period June 16, 1976, to February 28, 1977, the government formed two commissions to discuss amendments to the laws. Indeed, the workers struggles of the last few years had forced the regime to modify its employment legislation. But then, industry in Southern Africa, which is dominated by multi-nationals and 'joint ventures' could not continue without some minimum safety-valve (4).
government under pressure from both the demands of the white labour aristocracy, and the capitalists, was obliged to make moves to favour the might entail later with its ultra-racist The industrial development of the country, with the recent concentration of combative proletariat that could explode at any time was beginning to pose a thorny set of problems for the employers. This was especially so since they lacked any structure for integrating it. The new proposals which were to be brought forward some months later were an expression of this contradiction. They involved both concessions to the workers 14 ted with the development of independent unionism, it had first of all to address itself to the contradiction that the recognised, collaborationist trade unions had become less effective than the independent unions, which had been born in militant struggle and owed nothing to the previous system.
The second contradiction for the Wiehahn commission was the fact that the bosses were more and more negotiating with the trade unions outside the framework of the Industrial Councils.
The Commission proposed a complex system which claimed to solve the
It was forced to accept the reality of independent unions, but tried to bring them within the framework of new legislation. Thus, it proposed to extend the right to register, but refused newly registered unions the right to be
This would mean, on the one hand, that the unions would have to choose to be 'African', or 'Coloured', or 'Asian' or white. Also they would submit themselves to State scrutiny of their finances, income, number of members, etc. Also the new rules excluded agricultural workers, house servants, migrants, anduntil recently-miners. all collection of strike support funds and, still more strictly, help from abroad.
Of course, also banned were all links with political or similar type organi-
The principal industrial group Southern Africa, Barlow Rand, summarised its agreements which have the force of law. ertheless, it is necessary to change attitudes and which lead to discrimination against em ployees, or which would prevent the realisation of the objectives listed below [that is in an internal social code which is strongly paternalis-
Code of Honour of Barlow Rand, edition, February 1981.
5. The objective of the apartheid system is not simply to separate whites from the rest. It also divides the different groups of the oppressed to impede their unity. This is why the
GeN. is runs counterato the at tempts of some privileged layers of Coloureds appropriate the struggles and the movements of 'their own' racial group.
The CUSA federation is, like the FOSATU, partly composed of registered
But FOSATU has also declared itself to be a 'non-racial' union, which is another form of 'nonconformity'. (5)
In general, observers in the anti-apartheid camp consider that the question of registration is decisive in separating the radical unions from the others. However, it does not seem that things are that simple. Of course, no one should have any doubt that this regulation, and all others that attempt to control the independent unions, should be vigorously opposed. But the emergence of the independent unions is still very recent; the history of each union, and sometimes of each factory, is very specific. Thus, the process has sometimes involved the formation of registered unions, without this meaning that the leadership has compromised itself. (6) The same has been true with respect to participation in Industrial Councils.
It is sufficient to see that both registered and non-registered unions extend support and solidarity to struggles to realise that, at the moment, the question of registration is a tactical one. That does not mean that this will always be the case. But, when the real test of strength arrives, there will be more at stake than the question of registration or participation in Industrial Councils. (7) concerned is that FOSATU registration as being a principle. gister they should just be allowed to operate. reach our objectives, then we will use it. example, before our union amalgamated with the national union, (Numarwosa), we were reFOSATU, interviewed in SASPU National, September 1981.
In the interview cited in Note 6, Joe asked what would be the attitudes of FOSATU if the Supreme Court upheld the racial clause in relation to union registration.
"Ja, look if it is necessary to deregister, I don't think there will be any hesitation by ve are not going to accept racial registration.
Unity remains, without a doubt, the central question. The counterattack against repression aimed at union members in the Bantustans was organised on a united basis. (The most significant example of such repression was at Ciskei, Where 205 militants, including members of SAAWU, were imprisoned.)
More recently, in February 1982, a new unity was forged after the murder of Neil Aggett in prison. Aggett was the secretary of the African Foods and Canning Union in the Transvaal. The regime tried to claim that his death was 'suicide'. His death aroused deep feelings in the country. He was the first white to be killed in these conditions, among 43 political prisoners who have died in prison since 1963.
has been formed by the industrialisation of the last twenty years. The divisions among the trade unions are often an expression of the difference in experience. Some unions are discovering the importance of organisation in the workplaces. But on the question of internal democracy, it is important to distinguish between the actual capacity trade union life among a mass base and very democratic professions of faith that may just be a cover for inadequate thought about organisational questions. The South African racists are not a band of angels and the unions need to organisationally prepare very bitter confrontations.
It is precisely because the divisions today are the product of a chequered hisslation, registration, Industrial Councils, etc. (See Box). The unity achieved for the Aggett funeral partly derived from this conference.
Although everyone has a responsibility to work towards unity, the particular responsibility of the political vanguard should not be forgotten. This vanguard is still dramatically weak in Southern Africa, and it is not likely that in the short term a current will emerge which could, through the different unions and federations, fight for a policy of unifica-
Each of the leaderships has a certain responsibility in working for unity. But the federations could play a decisive role. They are already a framework for broad regroupment. Also, the ability to organise the working class in the workplaces (as FOSATU have already done), as well as the possibility of federating and coordinating activity on a national scale, are important elements in a policy of uni-
Standard Oil
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MORGAN O
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OUT oW fication of the workers movement. The fact that some leaderships their responsibilities to provide direction.
No one can fail to recognise that this question is fundamentally a political
Building a political vanguard is to a considerable extent bound up with it. At the root of trade-union unity is the whole against the system in its entirety. mass movement has to establish its class independence not only from the government but also from the bosses, the liberals, and all the imperialist operations.
A TURN BY THE ANC AND SACTU? What the ANC programme precisely fails to do is to base itself on class independence for the mass movement in Southern Africa. Perpetually flirting with the white liberals, the leadership of the ANC, controlled by the nationalists and the Stalinists of the South African Com-
(DR)
On February 11, 1982, all the independent unions called for a one-hour tant. work stoppage. This appeal was followed by around 100,000 workers. Although this figure may seem modest, it is very significant. It is of the order of the strikes of 1973 or 1981. Also, it was the first united call for action. In addition, at the funeral on February 13, the general secretary of the GWU spoke on behalf of all the independent unions. symbolic that Neil Aggett himself was one of the organisers of the second united conference of trade unions which is to take place in the first half of 1982.
THE QUESTION OF UNITY Nothing is more important than the question of unity, though, unity is not something that is needed for its own sake but to advance the class
The Southern African proletariat is in general young and inexperienced. It tory that the fight for unity is so impor-
It is not really correct to talk of political differences between the unions. Differences on the questions of registration, demands, and organisation do not justify a long-lasting division. In fact, these differences are the product of different experiences that have not been centralised and discussed out in one
One day, the Southern African proletariat must have one, non-racial, in-
Therefore, it is necessary today to pay attention to forming relations between the different components
Conference, Langa, in the Cape, in August 1981, was an important initiative from this point of view. It brought together about one hundred delegates from different unions. Although there was undoubtedly a certain fragility in the unity, they agreed on several resolutions which outlined a common strategy towards government legimunist Party (SACP), has until now acted
As the ANC has been presented as the only natural vanguard of the South African people, it goes without saying that the SACTU, its trade-union satellite, 'must' be the only representative workers organisation. SACTU, one finds a recent evolution on the trade-union question. bulletin mentioned the Langa conference, and interviewed members of SAAWU and GWU, which would have been unthinkable previously. (8)
This evolution can be explained by the pressure of SACTU, as an exterior organisation, can-
See Workers Unity, SACTU journal, January 1982. In this issue a major importance was given to the Langa conference, to SAAWU, and much was said about trade-union unity.... all of which would have been unthinkable even a year ago. This opening up was accompanied by a reiteration of the vanguard role of SACTU, the ANC, and its armed wing-Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spearhead of the Nation)-giving to understand that this unity would be achieved under the aegis of this bloc.
15
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Citicorp SWA REA ITT Risbury 4451
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GEME RAUSE ELECTO * AMERICAN EXPRESS CHASE Gora. Mobil COATNENTAL
The Black Municipal Workers Union (BMWU)
Commercial, Catering & Allied Workers Union of South Africa (CCAWUSA)
The Orange Vaal General Workers Union (OVGWU)
General and Allied Workers Union (GAWU)
Cape Town Municipal Workers Association (CTMWA)
not just dismiss the existence of tens of thousands of workers who are members of independent unions. But this explanation alone is insufficient. It is also necessary to recognise an evolution of the ANC, and within that, of the SACP.
The South African CP and SACTU seem to have made a political turn to adapt themselves to a trade union movement which has developed outside them, and try to capitalise from it. To carry off such an operation, the ANC has the advantage of an incontestable standing among the masses. This is not based on either its programme or on any mass underground activity. But the ANC has become a sort of symbol. Its prestige is increasing inasmuch as it seems the only political organisation widely talked of in the press. (9)
It would be wrong to reduce the politics of the ANC and SACTU to urban guerrilla warfare. Although, for propaganda reasons, the leaderships insist on saying that this is the only possible central strategy for Southern Africa, they do not do in practice what they say. rilla warfare is only a secondary aspect of a political line that is based first of all on relations with the bourgeois liberal opposition. In this context, there is no doubt that the ANC policy can include claiming to stand for trade union unity.
But if unity were to be achieved tomorrow in
Freedom Charter (10), and the classcollaborationist practice of this current, its potential could be wasted.
La race, even though in a country like Southern Africa it is more dangerous than elsewhere to mistake pushing into things for quick action. The to gain from unity that avoided the pitfall class-collaboration recommended by the funeral ceremony of Neil was attended by several Aggett, which thousand people, the ANC flag was draped on the coffin and the crowd sang the ANC hymn. These symbols undoubtedly appear as a spontaneous reaction of the masses who see them as a way of linking the past to the present. They do not necessarily signify agreement with the programme and practice leadership. But on the other hand, these same symbols can be interpreted differently at the level of the trade-union leaderships and cover real political differences on the future of the struggle, its programme, its objectives, and the attitude toward the ANC.
### TOWARD NEW
CONFRONTATIONS The regime, despite all its attempts to avoid this, finds itself confronting a trade-union movement which is gathering forces, organising, and fighting. Everyone in Southern Africa knows that the government has its sights trained on the trade-union movement, looking for weak points to attack.
If it has not yet mounted an assault, it is for good reason. This would be an extremely violent confrontation, far surpassing the clashes of the 1960s, and is now beyond its capacity to handle. The government of Pieter Willem Botha is facing big economic fluctuations because of the movement of the price of gold, and it is engaged in projects which continuously demand more investment.
The Soweto uprising in 1976 temperialist capital. A confrontation with the trade unions would carry the fight into the enterprises, compromising relations with the employers and directly blocking some foreign investment.
But no one could imagine that the trade unions can continue to grow at the present rate without the white ruling class hitting back. Unity will be important as a weapon for meeting this attack.
Another danger exists for the unions and the whole mass movement. There are liberals and certain groups of employers who offer to 'aid' and 'train' union members. (11) Some bosses are so helpful, you could forget that they have cheerfully exploited this same black workforce for years.
International federations, like the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, would very much like to play the matchmaker between independent trade unionism and the long-term interests of imperialism, alongside institutions like the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is linked to German social democracy.
Finally, all this discussion of trade- union development brings us back to one question: What is the next step?
In Southern Africa, curiously enough, we find the questions already posed in both Poland and Brazil. As in those two cases, there is a mass movement, of which one of the principal forms of recomposition is the appearance of independent mass unionism. Just as in
Brazil or Poland, the future depends on the ability of a section of that trade- union leadership to resolve the question of political leadership of the mass movement and the construction of a vanguard workers party.
mass movement would have everything porarily slowed down the inflow of imCONFERENCE OF TRADE UNIONS HELD IN LANGA, CAPE TOWN AUGUST 8, 1981 STATEMENT AGREED ON BY UNION DELEGATES
We accept that trade unions are public bodies and accordingly we do not object to providing information with respect to our constitution, finances, and representativity. However, we refuse to subject ourselves to control by anybody other than our own members. We, therefore, resist and reject the present system of registration insofar as it is designed to control and interfere in the internal affairs of
The meeting specifically agreed to support each other in defiance of any abuse in the powers of investigation given to the authorities by the Industrial Con-
The meeting also agreed that unions would support each other in defying the restrictions on supporting striking workers. It is an internationally recognised right of workers to withhold their labour. Moreover, under present conditions and legisstrikes happen so frequently because of low wages, inadequate bargaining procedures, and completely unworkable official dispute procedures. Workers, there tore, have no alternative to strike action outside of the law. It is, in any event. the duty and function of unions to stand by its members in any circumstances, including the payment of strike pay. The prohibition on financial support for strikers The General Workers' Union (GWU) The Food & Canning Workers Union (FCWU) African Food and Canning Workers Union (AFCWU) The Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU) Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA) South African Allied Workers Union (SAAWU) Motor Assemblers & Component Workers Union of South Africa (MACUSA) The General Workers Union of South Africa (GWUSA)
This is the question which is on the agenda. But it is difficult to know how it will be worked out in practice, as this debate can not be publicly conducted. There would be savage and merciless repression for those who dared to defy the racist regime like this. Therefore, at first, it will be an atomised and underground
No choice but to advance or accept That is the situation Southern African trade-union movement. The question that is now open is whether this mass movement will throw up a revolutionary vanguard capable of leading all the oppressed against the barbarity of apartheid and against capitalist exploita-
9. The authority of the ANC comes largely from its military operations to which should be added the imprisonment, since 1963, of Nelson Mandela, their former leader who is himself a symbol of the struggle.
Freedom Charter a general democratic programme, the realisation of which the ANC considers a necessary stage in the struggle of the African people.
11. Although the leadership of the white racist union, TUCSA, pretended to ignore the funeral of Neil Aggett, groups of employers made known their disapproval of police repression. The Federal Chamber of Industry advised employers to ignore the one-hour strike on the day of the burial. (Cape Times, February 10, 1982).
SAP congress says "Jobs not bombs"
ruling Social Democratic Party (SP) despite the link up be-
As the symbol of the Fourth International flashed up on tween the SDP and the bourgeois Left Radical Party. The SF, a the television screen, the news announcer told millions of left social democratic party, has started to develop a growing
Danish viewers the results of the conference of the Socialist left wing which spoke against the policies of the party leader-
Workers Party (Socialistisk Arbejdersparti-SAP).
Despite its small size (150 members) the SAP has won in- One important step towards the unity of the left parties creasing prominence and a widening audience for its in action took place on May Day when a joint mobilization by through the collection of the 25,000 signatures necessary to se- the SAP, VS, and SF brought out 50,000 marchers in Copenhagen and 20,000 in Aarhas.
The chief message that the SAP members will be pro- The SAP also decided to step up its participation in the moting both in their electoral campaign and in industry (30 per peace movement. The Conference approved the general line of cent of the organisation are in basic industry) is that there a recent United Secretariat resolution on peace and socialism as should be unity in action with the left workers parties against the basis of their work.
the anti-working class policies of the minority social democratic found in Intercontinental Press, February 8, 1982.)
Building the youth organization in solidarity with the
The goal of this fight should be for a workers government SAP, the Young Socialist Groups (Socialistik Ungdoms Foreninof all the workers parties represented in parliament through a ger SUF) will be a central aspect of the party's peace work. Albreak with the bourgeois parties and the adoption of an anti- ready the SUF has played a leading role in the organization of rock against Reagan' events timed to coincide with the Ameri-
The SAP conference took place at the same time as the can President's visit in June.
conferences of the two major left workers parties, the Socialist Peace work in the work places will also be a central theme
Peoples Party (SF) and the Left Socialists (VS). of the SAP's work in fighting to link the struggle against austerigeneral election, decided to give conditional support to the The SF, which won 12 per cent of the vote in the recent the SAP in the next period will be: "Jobs and Education, not ty with the struggle for peace. For this reason, a key slogan for by Steve POTTER cure the party electoral rights.
government.
capitalist action programme.
SAP CALLS FOR UNITY IN
ACTION AGAINST AUSTERITY
AND THE WAR THREAT
Following the massive united
May Day marches, the SF and VS to join in forming a united front that could mobilize D