Workers' Liberty

Trade union report; community campaigning; Iraq; organisation report

1) Trade union report

Patrick M: Where do we stand after some years of the awkward squad? What we said in our 2004 conference document is still true: no real trade union upturn yet at rank and file level.

Union membership is stagnant, in fact dropping outside public sector areas where employment is increasing. Young workers are less likely to join unions than ever before.

2003 had the lowest number of strikes ever recorded: 133.

Striker-days averaged 13 million per year in the 1970s, 8 million per year in the 80s, 660,000 per year in the 90s. They rose again to 1.2 million in 2002, but have now dropped again.

We could have hoped for a fight by the unions at Labour Party conference, and some fight on pensions. In fact we have had the Warwick agreement and a very feeble demonstration organised by the TUC on pensions.

All this does not mean that the awkward squad election had no significance. It did express some wish to see a fight, and a decay of the right-wing cadres who had got people like Ken Jackson elected. Left has continued to do fairly well in union elections. The NUT general secretary result does not really buck that trend, because the NUT is seen by members to have a very anti-government stand.

Good case for links at rank and file level between public sector unions on pensions. Do petitioning in workplaces for action.

New rank and file paper in NUT, "Campaign Teacher", looks good.

We need to turn our own branches a lot more around disputes, e.g. Laing, EWS, Lynx, PCS.

Kate: The role of Dave Prentis in Unison is important. He has reinvented himself as a pseudo-left leader although he has never done anything left-wing, and as such been effective in holding the "Big Four" back.

Unison general secretary election: rest of left decided we had to run Jon Rogers against the "established" left challenger, Roger Bannister, because Bannister will be combining his general secretary campaign with calling for a no vote in the political fund ballot.

Unison's membership has gone up, but since the health and local government workforce has gone up more, Unison's density has gone down.

There is a real shift in relation to strikes and strike ballots. They are more often used as gestures after which the union leadership settles for a rotten deal.

Unison and Amicus (by a smaller margin) have accepted Agenda for Change. But Society of Radiographers rejected it. So there are plenty of workers wanting to reject bad deals. What's lacking is confidence to take action.

Maria: The Warwick agreement is terrible. At Labour Party conference the awkward squad are acting little different from Bickerstaffe and Morris. Dubbins has been given the task of being the political operative of the "Big Four", which is telling.

This reduces the prospects for the LRC, but does not stop it doing rank and file work. LRC on 6 November discussed Jon Rogers' candidacy in Unison, and there seemed to be a majority for backing him though no formal decision was taken.

Union membership figures are unreliable. But in telecom union density is down from 90-odd per cent to 43 per cent.

Awkward squad victories? Some of it is the collapse of the old right-wing machine.

In the private sector, all the final-salary pension schemes are gone, and without a fight.

Janine: Do an open letter to the SP about what they're doing in the unions?

It's true that militancy does build union membership, e.g. RMT has done it.

Rank and file control of strikes is important. Even in relatively militant unions, industrial action has become a matter of getting a ballot majority and then the leadership calling token strikes at their will.

There's a culture of strikes being just one day, even in industries where one-day strikes have almost no effect. And a lack of strike-organisation culture, e.g. the lack or weakness of pickets even in the EWS strike, which was quite solid.

"Broad Lefts" are no use in unions which are run by the left. We should develop ideas like the "Fantasy Union of Railworkers" stuff in the Tunnel Vision pamphlet.

It would be good to organise a trade union day school.

John: "Broad Lefts" can be better than just electoral machines. We should argue for a better rank and file organisation.

UCRATUL yesterday? Serwotka said he plans to work with other public sector unions for a one-day general strike on pensions in February 2005. We should push that.

Note Gordon Brown's speech coming out hard against any linkage of pensions to earnings.

Note also Blairite insistence on opt-out from European constitution on right to strike etc.

Martin: EWS, PCS, Laings dispute are potentially quite big.

Established "lefts" in the unions are ageing and weak .We can't ignore them but must also reach under them. E.g. use petitions in workplaces; organise not just a central trade union school but trade union seminars aimed at younger people as our comrades in Australia have through the Socialist Alliance there.

Paul: A lot of statistical drop in membership is just figures being brought into line with reality.

What about SWP in the unions? They have launched a number of rank and file papers, but also act as bag-carriers to the awkward squad leaders.

New generation? A few years we hoped there was one developing, but it doesn't seem to be yet.

Patrick: Yes, SWP are doing a lot of bag-carrying. They are desperate to get in with the established left.

Can use a petition on pensions. But the leaders do not look like leading on this question.

An instructive tale about "partnership". The remodelling agreement in education was drawn up by a number of unions excluding NUT and the government. Now those unions and the government are presenting joint proposals on all sorts of things, including pay - and bad ones.

Martin - motion. EC to discuss:

1) More use of political petitions as a tool for AWL members in unions and workplaces to reach out to workers beyond the established union activists.

2) An AWL trade union school.

3) Promoting local how-to-organise seminars aimed at younger and newer activists.

Cathy: immediately a petition on pensions? Yes.

Agreed to consider this motion and others later in the meeting.

ATTENDANCE, MINUTES, ETC.

Apols: Mark O, Sean, Vicki, Clive [requested leave of absence, personal crisis], Matt [resigned from NC, personal crisis, but still active in branch].

Very late: Sacha.

(Before Sacha arrived, NC agreed to write to Sacha about non-attendance).

Agreed to accept Matt's resignation but indicate that he can come back on NC if he feels able.

Agreed to accept Clive's apologies, but say we want him to agree to meet someone from AWL before any larger decision on leave of absence.

EC minutes

Patrick M: Item in minutes about Chris Ford wanting to join AWL?

John B: Ex-member, and linked with Dunayevskayaite group, so we want discussion before we welcome them in.

Pete: Wants more discussion on Daniel being nominated for NUS exec in light of implications for Nottingham branch.

Mick: Not a good idea to have him nominated before he has a chance of more experience in local work.

Jill: Daniel is the plausible candidate; not to run him means giving up on a high profile in NUS.

Kate: Refer the issue to EC.

Further discussion: Patrick, Mark S, John B, Jill, Janine, Alison, Cathy.

Agreed: EC to discuss.

IRAQ

Cathy reported. Interim Government has announced two months of martial law. US has taken Fallujah, but now they have a big revolt in Mosul and may launch a similar attack on Mosul. I think US will go ahead with elections more or less come what may. Fallujah shows up the arrogance and hypocrisy of the USA's "nation-building". We don't know how many civilian casualties there were, but we will know. The main Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, has now left the government (but kept one of its members still in it).

But then you have the SWP shouting "Fallujah resists!" The people "resisting" were Islamists who had oppressed the people of Fallujah.

Interim Government has a deal with Sadr, it seems. Shia groups complained only mildly about Fallujah. They seem to be geared to the elections.

A Sunni resistance will continue. Whether things develop into a full-scale colonial war is another matter, and yet to be seen.

The left? SWP geared to "give imperialism a bloody nose", which is implicitly a chauvinist line. The "pro-occupation" left, from their own angle, are no better.

Janine: We're not really isolated in the labour movement and in the working class on this.

Mark S: How are the Americans possibly going to get out of this situation? If they have elections in January they won't get the people they want elected.

Bruce: Probably quite a lot of passive support for the Ba'thist/ Islamist Sunni resistance. Sistani's people look like coming out on top in the elections. End the occupation? It's a meaningful silence.

Cathy: If we made the main slogan end the occupation/ troops out, that would put us in the camp of people who want to see reactionary forces win. Our basic emphasis should continue to be Third Camp. Things could change, and we can have more detailed criticisms of occupation.

Martin: Fallujah protests small - because people don't know what they support positively. Some think the Iraqi labour movement are Quislings and the Islamists are a liberation movement; others, like us, that the Islamists are clerical-fascists and liberation depends on the labour movement.

We need to argue with everyone we know about this. There is much scope for local labour movement campaigning.

TUC Iraq solidarity committee is being set up - may be more open than we feared. Details not available yet.

Maria: STWC is planning a trade union conference.

A lot of the left are rallying to "save the

STWC". We have criticised, should criticise.

Bruce: It's hard to get information on what's going on with trade unions in Iraq now. Send more delegations? Concerned about "end occupation" slogan.

Kate: SWP have not raised Fallujah in the unions. We should find out full facts about the STWC, oppose new affiliations or additional funding from unions to it. Should have more argument against pro-war left.

Paul: STWC got a media coup with the military families on Wednesday. There are some active local STWC groups.

There are a few people who think we can back both the resistance militias and the labour movement.

Pete: Trade unions are not withdrawing from STWC. I speculated about coordinated resignations from STWC after Mick Rix's resignation. It's reported that within STWC the SWP has opposed immediate withdrawal.

Mick: Ask CWU to send someone to the Basra conference - spend their 500 pounds that way.

Duncan: SWP are certainly pushing Fallujah on Lewisham High St if not in the unions.

Martin: To step from "for Third Camp against both occupation and Islamists" to "end the occupation" would be bad because it would tilt things towards welcoming descent of Iraq into civil war and theocracy.

It's hard to get information about trade unions - difficult to get in and out of Iraq. It looks like they are on the defensive since April. All the information we have is on the IWSG website. We may get more from the Basra conference.

STWC? It's clear public record what it's done - i.e. something, enough to keep its niche maybe, but not much for a group with a budget of quarter of a million pounds.

COMMUNITY CAMPAIGNING

[See motions from Janine and from Cathy, below].

Janine: Both Cathy's text and mine indicate a bit more community campaigning, but mine indicates more. I say we should do community campaigning anyway we're doing electoral work in the coming years.

ALMO is a big issue, and we should do consistent long-term work on issues like housing.

Cathy: Long-term work in working-class communities is important, but that does not mean that we as a small group can do it. It does not necessarily mean that it makes sense for our branches to put scarce resources into community campaigns. It does not necessarily mean that it is wrong to intervene when there is a big struggle over an ALMO without becoming long-term tenant activists.

Pete: It's true that an election campaign without a strong community base is limited. In 2001 in Nottingham we did reasonably well in areas of stably employed working-class people, but there were very high abstentions in poorer areas. But turning that round is a huge job.

Duncan: I agree with Cathy. SP in Lewisham are the prime example of a left group doing long-term community work. It takes a phenomenal amount of work, with relatively poor results.

Patrick M: I find it hard to see significant differences. But I think we should take the more positive motion, Janine's, to encourage branches to look more seriously at the possibilities. E.g. we can do work around academies.

Alison: I'm not in favour of turning our branches to be community activists. But we should intervene in campaigns where they are going on. In my area there was no campaign against the ALMO: it would have been stupid for us to devote our efforts to building up a campaign.

John: I want to propose we continue the discussion in writing. There's little difference in practice, but we should be clearer.

It would be stupid to try ourselves to take on the job of organising sink estates. And it's obvious we should be involved in big local struggles when they arise.

The ALMO struggle? It's important but difficult. Our conference resolution talked about targeting our activity more tightly.

Martin: Yes, Janine has done some good work in her tenants' association. We should be alert to big campaigns on community issues, as always. But a steer for a number of our comrades towards becoming long-term tenant activists in the same way as we are trade union activists would be wrong. We should target our activity, maintain focus on basic propaganda tasks.

Jean: It's not possible for us to substitute for what big labour movement forces should do in terms of community organising.

Cathy: Yes, leave the motions on the table. Of course we should be involved in sizeable local community campaigns where they erupt. But we would do that anyway. That is a different matter from having a section of our comrades devoted to long-term community campaigning.

Janine: I agree with leaving the motions on the table. I'm not saying we scale down trade union work. Nor that we should focus on tenant activity as distinct from other sort of community campaigning. Activity on Iraq? I got my tenants' association to organise a debate on Iraq which had 25 people there. It was good. There are issues in communities even when there are not big struggles on. And we are often deficient on local campaigns.

John's procedural motion to have a written discussion and return at the next meeting.

MOTIONS FROM TRADE UNION DISCUSSION

Mick's motion:

We should shift the focus of our trade union work in the direction of workplace campaigning, propaganda, and organising, and less in the direction of the machinery of the unions.

Left on table, after Patrick M said that the motion assumed false counterpositions.

Martin's motion:

EC to discuss:

1) More use of political petitions as a tool for AWL members in unions and workplaces to reach out to workers beyond the established union activists.

2) An AWL trade union school.

3) Promoting local how-to-organise seminars aimed at younger and newer activists.

Points 1 and 2 carried. Point 3 left on table.

ORGANISATION

Martin: Presented review of progress on September NC decisions (below). Called for specific support for clause about organising regional day schools before Christmas.

Kate: For a long time our branch used real difficulties as a reason never to get round to doing public sales. Now we have turned it round. We shift more papers, we have an active outward-looking routine, we have new regular buyers, we've got some of them along to our public meetings. We do door-to-door sales, and when we get no answer we leave an out-of-date sample copy of the paper and a leaflet for our next meeting. That also gears us to ensuring regular open meetings.

Duncan: We do a sale every week in the high street. It's long-established and that is good. It slackened off over the summer. But we've got it going again properly with a stall, banners, petitions, etc., and sales are picking up. And it convinces younger comrades that they can sell papers.

Patrick Y: Yes, regularity is important, as we've done it in Norwich. People come back to us. And now the SWP does not get out on the street, so we are the only socialist presence on the street. We've done door to door sales too, but we can't manage both, so we've prioritised the city centre presence. Norwich can't do a regional school. Our meetings in Norwich are accessible, but we don't have the resources to have full-scale public meetings.

Bruce: ESF? I agree with the report. Also we didn't target sessions well enough.

Martin: I stress open meetings, not necessarily public meetings, in small branches.

EC report carried with note of Patrick Y's demur about no regional school in Norwich.

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Motion from Janine on community campaigning

There are many examples of working-class communities engaged in struggles over basic quality-of-life issues eg. housing, cuts/closures of facilities, attacks on local services etc. We support these struggles.

We believe that our involvement can be very useful to these campaigns, in putting forward strategies to help them win.

Further, without the involvement of socialists, these campaigns can be vulnerable to adopting a right-wing stance eg. hostility to immigrants, supporting repressive measures against crime, or arguing to cut another facility instead of their own.

Building a base for socialist, workng-class politics is also an essential component of an effective strategy in fighting the fascists. Mainstream anti-fascism is based on popular fronts with "anyone but the BNP", and fails to address the social conditions in which the BNP grows.

Community campaigns can and do win victories. However, to achieve success on any significant scale, they must tap into the power of the labour movement. Campaigns in working-class communities should see themselves as part of the working-class movement, and should fight alongside trade unions.

Ten+ years ago, we would have argued for a community campaign to take itself into the local Labour Party. We still do not rule out limited possibilities for doing this eg. finding the odd Labour Councillor who might support the campaign, getting campaign speakers to ward meetings, or getting affiliated trade unions to apply pressure. But we recognise that the opportunities to do this are much more remote than previously. In particular, the chances of getting a campaign representative selected as a Labour candidate for a Labour Council which is carrying out the cuts are virtually nil. Apart from in exceptional circumstances, we would therefore no longer argue that orientation to the Labour Party is central to a working-class community campaign.

It is now more likely that we would encourage a community campaign or organisation to stand its own candidates in local elections. We would argue strongly that this should be on a socialist platform, accountable to the workers' movement, and in alliance with other socialist and labour movement campaigns. We also aim to secure the support of community activists and groups for own own election candidates.

Community campaigns often have a quite good level of involvement and energy, and often include people who are interested in socialist ideas. It is also possible to meet and campaign alongside more working-class women and youth in community campaigns than in many trade union branches.

We have understood for a long time that in order to win respect amongst trade union activists and members, you have to put in consistent work over a long period, rather than just parachuting in when there is a strike in the offing. Similarly in working-class communities, we have to earn the right to have our ideas listened to and win the trust of local activists.

We recognise that as a small organisation with limited resources, we can not make a large-scale effort in this area, but we can - and should - do some targeted political work in working-class communities. These should include anywhere we intend to stand in the General Election or local elections within the next two years. Confining ourselves to a last-minute burst of canvassing activity will mean that our candidates' results in these elections would be derisory, as we will not have distinguished ourselves from cynical bourgeois politicians or those left grous which are content to take a smash-and-grab approach to elections and secure a handful of votes.

The EC should consult with branches to identify the areas in which we should carry out this work and draw up a plan of activity, paying due regard to available resources and the need to continue with other areas of work.

Furthermore, we recognise that some of our own members will need to be involved in campaigns such as these simply through their own experiences eg. closure of a facility that directly affects them - just as members will have to be involved in issues that come up at their workplace eg. job cuts. The local branch should support these comrades and help with the campaign. Further, some members' change in lifestyle eg. having children or retiring, may mean that community-based political activity is a more practical option for them than other types of activity.

And finally ... The government is currently pushing through its 'Decent Homes' strategy, with the stated aim of improving public housing, but on condition that it is, in effect, privatised, through stock transfer, PFI, or (in most cases) ALMO. There are likely to be some active campaigns around this issue. This is also one of the two issues on which the government was defeated at Labour Party conference. We should cover this issue in Solidarity, and produce a standard Workers' Liberty leaflet that branches can use in local campaigns.

Motion from Cathy

1. There is an objective need for the left to organise politically in working class communities.

2. A larger organisation than ourselves could and should take responsibility for such campaigning. However our resources are very limited. We cannot substitute for what a larger socialist movement could do, and if we try to, we will fail to do the work we can and must do as a Marxist propaganda group.

3. Nonetheless if circumstances dictate (e.g. comrades' personal situation), opportunities arise (e.g. big local and national struggles around such an issues as ALMOs) and where it otherwise makes sense (e.g. in election campaigning) we should look to get involved in community campaigning.

4. Recognising that such work can positively feed into the political life of the organisation, make contacts etc, we also need to bear in mind the need to focus our limited resources on those activities which we have identified as priorities and which already stretch those resources: our basic ideological and political work of education and advocacy; our work in trade unions and round industrial bulletins; No Sweat and student work.

5. We should maintain our existing priorities but also look to the following possibilities: a. Raising issues such as housing/cuts and facilities in our General Election work in Nottingham*.

b. Proposing such a "campaign profile" for other election campaigns we are involved in e.g. Leeds.

c. Getting involved in big local struggles such as over ALMO, as we should do normally.

d. Covering issues such as ALMOs, New Labour's local policing initiative (curfews etc) and so on in Solidarity.

* Here it may make most sense to argue the local labour movement "turns outwards" e.g. the local trades council. We ought to streamline initiatives and try to get other people to do things rather than start up big new campaigns or get ourselves heavily involved in new organisations e.g. tenants groups.

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Alliance for Workers' Liberty

Draft EC report to NC 14/11/04.

NATIONAL COMMITTEE 05/09/04

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Autumn-winter plans, 2004

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DECISIONS

We decided "to improve the routines by which we make the AWL visible and attractive to new people, and able to draw them in and integrate them. The office will gear its efforts to helping get the AWL out on the streets more, and to helping increase the vitality of regular local AWL meetings".

* Office to produce Activist Notes weekly, on a Monday;

* Branch meetings always to discuss political reports, to take and circulate minutes, and to check implementation of decisions from the previous meeting;

* Branches to have public or open meetings on a regular monthly routine;

* Office to organise systematic short induction courses for new recruits;

* Branches to run study courses

* Branches to establish regular street stalls and public sales

* Branches to support student comrades in developing a strong NS presence in colleges, generally through working in or with broad green/ left groups; and to ensure a good AWL presence at student freshers' fairs, and regular AWL stalls and sales at campuses.

* Regional day schools on the weekend of 11-12 December to consolidate contacts and clinch recruits.

REPORTS

The office has produced Activist Notes weekly.

According to the result of phone-rounds from the office, branches have the following routines.

Regular public stalls/ sales:

Manchester - Market Street, Tuesdays

Sheffield - city centre, Saturdays

Birmingham - New Street ramp, Wednesdays

Leicester - Thursday evenings (door to door)

Norwich - city centre, Saturdays

Lewisham - New Cross Fridays, Lewisham clock tower Saturdays

South West London - Wimbledon, Saturdays

North London - Kings Cross Thursdays, Stratford and Kings Cross Saturdays, and Old St Sundays

Newcastle - Newcastle University, Monday lunchtime

Brighton - rail station, Mondays

Newcastle - Newcastle Uni library, 1pm Mondays

Nottingham - Market Square, Saturdays

Leeds - no information

Oxford - no information

Regular meeting times:

Leeds and Leicester branches meet on Mondays;

Manchester, Nottingham, and (as from next week) North London on Tuesdays;

Sheffield, Birmingham, Southampton and Newcastle on Wednesdays;

Norwich, Lewisham and London PCS branches on Thursdays (which is also the day for London AWL forums and central London NS meetings);

Tube fraction on Fridays (every three weeks).

South West London's meeting time appears to be in flux - report pending.

Problems: Some branches are very unforthcoming about reports of sales and stalls. Sometimes they are not done, for reasons other than being rained off or unavoidable clashes.

Some sales shift very few papers. Experience elsewhere, notably Leicester, Lewisham, and North London, suggest that this is a problem with us, not the world around us.

Norwich branch sends minutes regularly, and Sheffield, South West London, Oxford, Lewisham, and North London intermittently. No other branch sends minutes. The minutes don't have to be elaborate, and don't have to be typed up! Legible handwritten notes of decisions, photocopied, are fine.

The picture with open or public meetings outside London is extremely patchy. Ditto study courses.

No regional schools have been arranged for 11-12 December except the London one. There is still time, but only just.

Activity at student fresher's fairs was pretty successful at Oxford and Brighton. Less so elsewhere, the problem being with us rather than the world around us.

This is the student report as of EC 29/10/04: Oxford - a NS campaign underway, with People and Planet drawn in. Two AWL meetings so far. Sheffield - some NS meetings, unclear what's happening with People and Planet. One AWL meeting. Royal Holloway - comrade runs the Socialist Society, a number of contacts there. York - intervention in People and Planet. Newcastle - had an AWL meeting, situation otherwise not clear. NS meeting planned next week. Brighton - Anthony had trouble finding a place to live; Sacha meeting him soon. Clare (contact) at Sussex University: other contacts from University have come to meetings in Brighton. Edinburgh: Sophie out of contact. Canterbury: meeting on Sunday. Birmingham: letter has been sent lapsing James C. Warwick University: Sacha meeting Sara soon. Leeds: branch has not yet met Leon S yet; Sacha to follow up. Subsequently we had a presence at the People and Planet conference on 6 November: got about 100 NS contacts.

PROPOSALS

- Branches to re-address September decisions especially as regards sales, stalls, open meetings, study courses, minutes.

- Organise the regional schools for 11-12 December.

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Labour Representation Committee

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DECISIONS

Resolution 1

We should advocate that the LRC write to Labour Party MPs and PPCs, demanding that they sign a pledge of labour representation - for a programme of working-class demands. The LRC should advocate that trade unions target their general election expenditure at supporting those Labour candidates that support those demands

Resolution 2

'That we should change the wording of model motion on our website on Unions and Politics point 6. which currently reads "regrets the LRCs failure to call explicitly for the unions to insist on a minority report from the NPF and its failure to criticise the pact made at the forum; urges the LRC to take a stronger stand; resolves to call for our union to affiliate and argue for a stronger stand".

Resolution 3

1. All AWL members should individually join LRC

2. AWL members to maximise affiliations to LRC from trade union branches (affiliated and non affiliated to Labour Party), trades councils and CLPs

3. Where there is an opportunity to form working groups/networks of LRC supporters in Unions and in CLPs on a national, regional or local basis which involve more than ourselves we should do so.

4. That we support Union based initiatives to discuss the issue of Labour Representation at local and regional level

5. That we work in the 'big four' unions to gain affiliation to the LRC at their Conferences next year

6. That AWL members on the LRC Steering Committee report back regularly to NC and that LRC strategy is discussed at NC meetings.

7. This strategy to include a focus on a critical approach to the trade union bureaucracy on issues such as Employment rights and on the call to replace Blair as leader of LP within both CLPs and in Trade Unions.

Resolution 4

LRC. First committee meeting is 6 September. We've organised an AWL caucus meeting before it. Ideas to go to it:

1. We argue for an organised, concerted campaign by the LRC to mobilise the unions to fight in the Labour Party - at National Policy Forums, in conferences, etc. - over the anti-union laws. We are proposing this not just as one of the LRC's one hundred and one good causes, but as the key priority.

2. We raise the question of the LRC advocating a challenge to Blair as leader. Maria and I felt we should not push this to a vote in the 6 September meeting, but we should make the argument that advocacy of left policies means little unless it is coupled with a will to challenge the leadership. CLPD is now making this same point forcefully, and we should pick up on that.

3. We tell the truth about the union leaders' climbdown at the 23-25 July National Policy Forum, and draw the conclusion that the LRC must be willing to fight for the more radical unions and the rank and file in other unions to take the initiative, rather than just hoping to nudge the Big Four into doing the right thing. Recall that the LRC of 1900 would never have been set up if its initiators had waited for all the big unions to come on board.

4. We advocate a drive to get LRC speakers to meetings and conferences called by local Trades Councils and similar bodies. (For example, Hackney Trades Council is organising a big meeting on working-class political representation).

5. We pick up on the example set by the RMT in the South West, where it is organising a local conference with the regional CWU and FBU on working-class political representation. Tony is pressing for East Midlands Region of the RMT to initiate a regional LRC gathering. We should investigate the possibilities of a London conference on working-class political representation sponsored by the London regions of RMT, CWU, FBU and Unison.

REPORTS

We have worked on these themes at and around the LRC meetings of 06/09/04 and 06/11/04. It's a slow business.

What we haven't done is get AWL members signed up as LRC members.

PROPOSAL

NC members sign up individually as LRC members at the NC meetings, and take away forms to get other AWL members in their branches signed up.

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Chechnya

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The NC had a discussion on the basis of which an article was written and published on the website and in the paper.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES SINCE NATIONAL COMMITTEE

The NC foresaw three major mobilisations of our comrades between September and now:

* for the freshers' fairs around early October;

* for the ESF on 14-17 October;

* for the NS Haiti speaking tour.

REPORTS

For freshers' fairs, see above.

ESF (from EC minutes 22/10/04): " We did two and a half good things. The Iraq benefit was good; the leaflet about Subhi al Mashadani was good; the NS stall sold a lot of stuff (though it got few names and addresses). All the more pity that we did not have more people to make more impact. Overall, we didn't do well from an AWL point of view, mainly from lack of people. In particular, lack of students, and lack of London people".

Haiti tour

Report from Sacha: We visited Leicester, Sheffield Uni, Nottingham, Leeds, Durham Uni and Edinburgh. All the meetings were good, although on average quite small - they varied between about fifteen and forty (Durham).

We raised something in excess of £200 in collections (don't know the amount from Leeds yet).

One thing to note is that Yannick is certainly quite on our wavelength.

Some examples:

1) She has roughly our line on Aristide; ie his regime was fundamentally no better than the bourgeois gang now in power, that he didn't nothing for the poor masses of Haiti while repressing the workers' movement, that even before being tamed by the Americans he was no more than a populist.

2) She is very much against the US war on terror and the occupation of Iraq, but was very excited to meet an Iraqi socialist in Nottingham and pointed out that "the Islamic groups are no alternative to US imperialism, only the workers are" (exact quote).

3) She has visited Cuba twice; while she thinks the revolution has "done some important things", she also thinks that "the working class is not in power" (exact quote) there.

4) Probably most importantly, she said that NS compared very favourably to others she'd work with such as the Belgian clean clothes campaign, in that it was a workers' organisation and not an NGO.

OTHER

A trade-union sub-committee at the office has met regularly (on Fridays) since 23/08/04. Getting the broader AWL trade union caucus together has been more difficult, but we had a meeting on 06/11/04 and will have another on 07/12/04 or 14/12/04.

A draft of a new AWL "where we stand" pamphlet had been promised for 20/09/04, but the writer has been out of action due to personal circumstances, so we don't have it yet. Wait until he is back in action.

Paper redesign has been done.

We sent a representative to the Worker-communist Party of Iran majority congress in September, and have commented on our website about the issues in the split, attracting a fair amount of interest. We have been promised a meeting with the WPIran minority/ WPIraq majority, but it's still a promise.

We had a presence at the International Marx Congress in Paris (end September/ early October) and used the occasion for discussions with several French groups (Débat Militant, Liaisons, Ni patrie ni frontières, Solidarité Irak, Solidarité Algérie, Lutte Ouvrière minority faction). The notes from those discussions have yet to be typed up.

We leafleted and sold papers extensively at the Unison health sector special conference on Agenda for Change, 7 October.

We made contact at the ESF with one of the Polish Trotskyists with whom we have had correspondence. Paul H plans to visit Poland in January.

We produced a leaflet about the PCS dispute, including for circulation at the rallies on 5 November.

We've devoted much effort from the office to the Iraq issue: IFTU/ STWC row, TUC Iraq appeal, IWSG etc.

Recent industrial disputes: see Patrick's separate report to NC.

General election 2004: a meeting on 24 October resulted in the following statement:

JOINT ELECTION CHALLENGE

In the looming general election a joint campaign against Blair will be mounted by four left parties.

These will offer an alternative to the right-wing policies of privatisation, war and environmental destruction offered by both the major parties and the Lib Dems too.

A meeting in London on Sunday 24th October agreed wide-ranging cooperation, including jointly agreed policy, between the Socialist Party, the Alliance for Green Socialism, the Alliance for Workers Liberty and the Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform. These parties will contest dozens of seats across the country in the coming general election.

[The ballpark figure is 30 or so candidates, around 20 of them SP. Further meetings are planned to sort out the details].