Reading's one & only RED RAG oct 17-31 - - - THE GREAT ERLEIGH ROAD SEWAGE DISASTER During summer Council survey sewers in Erleigh Road area. Use T.V. cameras on bits of string. Lose one. Causes blockage. They seek it, they find it, they try to clear it with air pressure. It doesn't move. Shit flies up pipes out of plug holes and bogs in peoples houses. Typhoid infections, evacuation. Holes in road, buses diverted, smelly. Ho ho ho unless it's your house. Compensation? Watch this space. VALIANT Rescue Workers help Cholera victim to safety - but will inoculation programme survive health cuts? Red Rag can only guess. INSIDE THIS ISSUE:- What's wrong with the Unemployment Centre? ... R.O.F Burghfield ... Health Service Cuts ....Falklands Task Farce ... Guide to the Alternative Economic Strategy ... Dawning Comprehension ... Scoop! Aldermaston '63 ... A Day out with the Wimps/Biggies joins famous five in M4 secret convoy ...RED RAG'S FAMOUS GOING OUT GUIDE ... EVENTS GUIDE ... Should MILITANT expel the Labour Party? Two views ... Red Rag reports borough Council Meeting ... Pirate Radio ....... Deadline for next issue - Thursday October 28th. - - - UNEMPLOYMENT CENTRE WHAT'S WRONG WITH READING'S CENTRE FOR THE UNEMPLOYED? Well, for a start, do you know where it is? Do you know what it's for? If your answer to the first question was 'no', I'm not surprised. The vast grey amorphous mass labelled "the unemployed" don't seem to know either. If your answer to the second question was also 'no' don't worry. I don't believe that anyone concerned with the setting up or the running of the Centre could give you a clear idea anyway. As a user of the Centre of four months standing I'm still grappling with this myself. I will attempt to describe the Centre and identify some of the problems involved in running it. First of all, the Centre is situated at 4-6 East St, not quite opposite South St Unemployment Benefit Office, tucked away behind a garage so that you have to walk across the garage forecourt to get to it. The building is a converted factory, with a large space inside (good potential for meetings, socials, sports and other activities) and several smaller rooms called "classrooms" though some are used as offices or bicycle repair workshops etc. There is a cheap coffee bar, a TV (on all the time) and in the main hall a couple of desks, one belonging to the Centre's secretary, the other to the two workers at the Centre Dan and Martin. Both the workers' jobs are MSC and therefore last only a year, so new ones will have to be appointed next February. So much for appearance. What goes on at the Centre then? The casual visitor might find Dan giving advice on welfare rights (a very useful service for which demand has quickly risen), perhaps a batik class going on in one corner, a few people watching television in another, perhaps a drama group rehearsal in a classroom - and a large empty space in the middle. An enthusiastic visitor may be encouraged to sit in on a Users' Committee meeting (usually on a Friday afternoon) and suggest new activities for the Centre to take up. Such visitors are few and far between. Any sort of visitor is something of a pleasant surprise. A lot of time at Users' Committee meetings is spent bemoaning the fact that the Centre is terribly under-used. Why? For the answer to this question, I think we should look at the structure of the place. Take the name: 'Reading Centre for the Unemployed' - not inspiring, is it? Names given to other such centres are more calculated to attract people (e.g. the Wyvern Centre, the Phoenix Centre). Funnily enough, people have an aversion to being identified with "the unemployment problem". Why was the Centre given such an uninspiring name? Ask the people who made it all possible, those shadowy figures who started the project, the Management Committee.... as I said it's a problem of structure. Who runs the Centre? Surely a centre for the unemployed should be run by the unemployed (whoever they are)? Certainly the Centre was originally plugged as a resource to be run for and by the unemployed: "Rather than defusing the anger of the unemployed we will be harnessing it in a direction which will be determined by them." (Brian Revell, Red Rag 7 Feb 82) The article containing this quote continued, "Now the Centre is launched, Brian Revell hopes his involvement will fade as the people who use it take control!! Unfortunately the operational structure of the Centre ensures not only that Brian's involvement with the Centre will last indefinitely but that the Centre is run hierarchically from the top downwards by (and for) people with jobs (the Management Committee). The Centre merely pays lip-service to the concept of participation. To clarify: certain members of the Management Committee worked very hard to set up the Centre; the unemployed being a cause worth fighting for (I don't doubt the sincerity of the management committee), but at the same time a potentially useful source of political capital. They negotiated with the Council, and accepted the present formula which appears to be very much on the Council's terms. For instance it is written into the lease that the Centre shall not have a music licence or a liquor licence. It seems to me that socials at the Centre would be an ideal way to introduce people to the Centre; but the unemployed aren't supposed to enjoy their free time! The idea of installing pool tables didn't go down too well with the management c'ttee either - young people are supposed to go to youth clubs and not make a noise at the Centre - its image might be damaged, and there's the ever-present fear that the Centre's funding might be cut on a whim of the Council. Hence need continually stressed by the Management Committee at Users' Committee meetings, to maintain "credibility' (i.e. to check out the financial aspects of any activity proposed by the users - if there's money to be made out of it, or if it's likely to make a loss). I probably escaped a dressing-down from the Management Committee by the skin of my teeth - the benefit gig at the Old Town Hall made a profit of precisely £1. But as far as I'm concerned a lot of unemployed people had a good cheap night out, which for me and the Users' C'ttee was the whole point of the gig. Back to the structure of the Centre: in the words of the constitution: "The responsibility for establishing and operating the Centre shall be rested in the Management Committee." And: "A users' committee composed of up to twelve representatives of unemployed members using the Centre will be constituted to act as an advisory committee, to the management committee". The users' c'ttee is elected every three months by anyone who happens to be around at the time. It meets weekly on Friday afternoons. The M.C. is not elected and exists to "operate" the Centre for an unspecified time (i.e. for its entire life). It meets once a month: day to day running of the Centre is in the hands of an Urgency Sub-Committee of four (including one user). The M.C. comprises fourteen members. 12 have jobs! Reading Trades Council................4 Berks County Council..................3 Reading Borough Council...............1 Voluntary Services Council............1 Reading Council for Racial Equality...1 Employer (Marks and Spencers).........1 Employee of Centre....................1 Users' Committee......................2 (Others to be decided.................2) As can be seen from this matrix the users of the Centre are outnumbered 12 to 2 on the decision-making body! So much for the high-principled words of Mr Brian Revell quoted above. The M.C. is noting more than the usual mixture of Trade Unionists, Labour Council reps, and Voluntary Services reps to be found on all such committees of good works. In how many other liberal/left bureaucratic niches will you find such people as Joan Ruddock, Colin Lyons and Brian Revell (the Urgency C'ttee)? These bourgeois "left-wing" do-gooders of course have their own view of who the unemployed are: male, 40, wearing a cloth cap and in need of remedial reading. An illustration of the high-handedness of the M.C. is their decision, against the wishes of the Users' Committee and of the two workers at the Centre, to appoint a co-ordinator. The need for a co-ordinator at the Centre is highly questionable: what is there that a co-ordinator could do which could not be done by one or both of the Centre's workers? Such a substantial expenditure will put the Centre in financial deficit very early on in its life. The money would surely be better spent on increasing activities at the Centre. I have wondered if the Centre suffers from being in the town centre and not community-based - but then, "community centres" are also under-used. Anyway, it is true to say that little effort is made to get out to where the unemployed are, or even more important to discover who they are. I'm sure a lot of people feel disqualified from using the Centre because of its title, such as women whose housework is unwaged, or who are forced to stay at home and lock after children because of the lack of nurseries. (There are supposed to be creche facilities at the Centre...) It would be really nice to see them using the Centre - perhaps to get together to fight the cohabitation rule...? I believe the Centre could be used for many more varied, fun and useful activities - it would be a superb resource centre. The fact of long-term unemployment has not yet sunk in. Such fantasies have no hope of being realised within the present structure of the Centre. The Centre is too dependent on the Council's goodwill and the Management Committee to take on a life of its own - it is managed from above, and I can't see people getting involved on those terms. If there is a grass-roots demand for a Centre, any attempts to get organised have probably been pre-empted by the tinsel-wrapped gift package of the Reading Centre for the Unemployed. A sad thought; but I think it is better if people organise themselves. Laura Necchi-Ghiri - - - YOU ARE INVITED TO A RED RAG SOCIAL WEDNESDAY 20th OCT CROWN INN CROWN ST 8.00pm TIL LATE DO IT YOURSELF DISCO Admission:- £1 or fill in standing order form' / keep red rag flying. \ - - - AWARENESS AID These postcards have been produced by members of the now defunct Burghfield Peace Camp, in an effort to raise cash to keep the campaign against ROF Burghfield alive. Our immediate aims are to fund a full sized poster of this post-card and the planting of two twenty-five foot dia. Peace symbols in daffodils. (For the full story of the first planting see 'A day out with the wimps'.) We have 1000 of these cards to sell at l0p each. As we are already £80 out of pocket we would really appreciate your support. Why not buy 10 and send them to your friends* who still haven't got the message yet? All orders will be gratfully received by Paul or Pogle on Reading 587381. Also, on sale at Acorn.. *The ones that have got control over your life. I think I'll drop Maggie a line. To avoid confusion, ROF-RIP was conceived by a Wimp Against Nuclear Killers, sponsored by a Universal Utopian & marketed by The People for Peace. (Have you ever tried to collectively decide on a label you didn't want?) - - - HEALTH SERVICE "Implications for the Oxford Region of current Government policy" is the title of a consultation paper published last week by the Oxford Regional Health Authority, which includes Berkshire, Bucks., and Northampton as well as Oxfordshire. And the implications of the Government's demands and constraints are a £12M saving which could mean: - Reducing standards of ante-natal and post-natal services - Imposing a residence qualification for use of non-emergency health services - Rationing care for-the elderly at a level well below the current one - Cutting the number of District General Hospitals (perhaps Battle or some of RBH) - Pulling some specialist functions back into regional centres from the Districts - Reducing lengths of stay in hospital by making day surgery the norm in many cases - Drastically reducing psychiatric in-patient services - Pushing more out-patient work onto GP's - Introducing a rationing system for investigative procedures - Abandoning cold surgery and family planning to the private sector - Putting the responsibility for transport, laundry and food on patients' families or voluntary groups so that supporting hospital services can be radically reduced - Charging for hospital prescriptions, hotel services and treatment of traffic victims - Building incentives and penalties into services so as to promote "efficiency" - Getting rid of an awful lot of health workers And the effect of these measures, the RHA officers say, would be to establish different, lower standards of service in the region from elsewhere in the country and to broach for the first time the NHS principle of equality of opportunity for and access to health services. "The NHS is safe with us," Mrs Thatcher said three days before this story broke in the "Guardian*. Not in Berkshire it's not. So the Oxford Region Day of Action on October 19th is not just going to be about getting a decent wage for health service workers, it's going to be about having a health service for them to work in. There's going to be a regional rally in Oxford, with coaches leaving Royal Berks, at 10.45 and Battle Hospital at 11.00. But the campaign to protect our National Health Service in this county will have to be fought for a long time after that. A campaign which in the last analysis is literally about life and death. An Alternative Strategy? Oxford looks like the proving ground for the Think Tank's strategy to privatise the NHS. But there should be an alternative strategy, and that's what will be explored at the WEA Teach-in on the NHS on October 27th: 7-30 p.m. at the Centre for the Unemployed. It will be introduced by Steve Iliffe of "Medicine in Society" and workshops will be led by SE Region TUC Health Services Committee Secretary Keith Jerrome (on The Black Report), Labour Social Services spokesperson Juliet Clifford (Care in the Community), John Power of the Oxford RHA (Democracy and Health Care) and Ruth Reid of the Oxford NALGO Health Branch (Preventive Medicine). Could not be more topical! Pete - - - TASK FARCE Moorgate, London, 12 noon 12th Oct 1982. Falklands Victory(?) Parade. "London Salutes The Taskfarce". Also - direct action - a group of non-violent anti-military protesters attempting to chain themselves across the road to stop the parade. The pavement is already crowded, barriers packed. Union Jacks, hats, badges, rosettes, flags, everywhere a family occasion, moms and youngsters, city workers having an extended lunch. People everywhere - balconies, windows and steps. On the street POLICEMEN, policemen & more policemen (there were policewomen too.) Two groups of protesters, one either side of the road..?...three missing - arrested on the way. Nervous people, tense, apprehensive and beginning to get very worried. The police presence in front has doubled and behind some heavy types join us (who later turned out to be C.I.D. with handcuffs, surprise, surprise). The people who were going to unveil a banner disappear from a balcony. Later, one of them is next seen having the banner tied around his neck for him. The first sound of the band, parade in sight.......12.35. G0! A move for the barrier - in spite of everything, two people over! well almost - pushed from the front, hauled back from behind and thrown onto the pavement. Someone else moves forward two hands pull him backwards, he falls to the ground on top of an innocent(?) bystander. Both pulled up - one of then bleeding - and held roughly against the wall. Two more over the barrier and back again. On the other side of the road, a move forwards, all pulled back. One of the girls crashing against the railings head first. The surrounding crowd goes mad (*«£?*) cries abuse..."commies" "scabs? "stick the boot in", "get'um".....patriots. All the protesters held up against the wall. One girl crying, two girls singing, one bloke comforting them all. & The parade goes by. - - - DAWNING COMPREHENSION? The last attempt to end selection at 11+, abolish Reading's two grammar schools and move to a genuine comprehensive system took place almost ten years ago, when Reading Borough was still an education authority. That attempt foundered on the veto of a Tory Secretary of State, Margaret Thatcher. Following the County Council elections last year we have another chance, with a new consultation paper summarised in a supplement to the 'Midweek Chronicle' on October 18th and complete with yet another questionnaire. And it's even more important that we take it. The two grammar schools accept 180 pupils a year, or about 10% of the 11-year-old population. Falling school rolls mean that by 1989 those 180 pupils will be 15.5% of the population. And what that means is really a total cream-off into traditional academic, single-sex grammar schools, leaving the surviving comprehensives as secondary moderns in all but name. Shrinking opportunities for the majority of our kids at a time when more and more jobs and leisure are becoming dependent on new skills that have to be taught somewhere. Reading, and indeed the country as a whole, have a long way to go in expanding education to meet the challenge of new technology. Only 45% of our 16-year-olds get further education and training: the figure in France is 55%, in Germany 65%, in the U.S.75%, in Sweden 85% and in Japan 95% : it's no accident surely that this is the same sequence as most indicators of economic prosperity. So instead of shrinking opportunities by clinging to an elitist grammar school system, we need to provide new opportunities for the 16-19 age group in particular. Which is why the idea of a tertiary college, bringing together academic, vocational and pre-vocational education in a single institution, is such an exciting and vital one for the Greater Reading area as a whole. Ending selection and expanding post-16 education are what this consultation should really be all about. If you support those aims please show it by returning the 'Midweek Chronicle' questionnaire in support of OPTION SEVEN. Don't lets miss out again. Governor - - - Answering Mark's question in the last issue, here is GUIDE TO THE AES That we the unemployed now number officially 3 1/4 M or thereabouts and rising is sufficient reason for us to want an alternative economic strategy. We know the prime reason for our joblessness is not shiftlessness, is not lack of skills, is not the wages we are seeking. It is lack of jobs: over 30 of us are chasing every vacancy. And that lack of jobs results from lack of demand for the goods are services we could provide. It is that lack of demand that the Alternative Economic Strategy - the AES - propounded by the Labour Party and the TUC is designed to change. The foundation of the AES is a multi-billion-pound programme of public investment in housing, in home insulation, in railway electrification, in telecommunications, in replacing our Victorian sewer system, in new schools and hospitals, in an expansion of home helps and other social services. These are all things that will add to the quality of life: Reading alone has almost 3300 families on the Council house waiting list and will complete not a single house in 1982; home insulation is vital if energy resources are to be conserved; rail electrification has been talked about for 50 years and means a faster and more reliable service; and so on. They are all also things that can be initiated fairly quickly by providing funds to local authorities, BR, the water boards and so on, and priority can be given easily to regions where unemployment is at its worst. And very importantly all of them are labour-intensive, offering large numbers of jobs both directly and in supplying industries. Together with an increase in child benefits, pensions and other welfare benefits they will pump demand into the economy by increasing the average income. But that demand could lead to inflation, if industry just puts up its prices to turn that income into profit without increasing production. So price controls are a must. Or the increased demand could lead to an import boom: British industry is battered, in some fields almost non-existent, in others behind the times in quality, delivery or price and it will be very easy and profitable for multinationals in particular to rush goods from overseas into the British market. Which is why import controls are essential, so that a new Department of Economic and Industrial Planning, with major input from the trade unions as well as from private companies, can identify our shortfalls and build or re-equip factories to meet them. Otherwise much of our public investment will simply join the billions "our" financial institutions have already invested overseas and we will see no benefit here in terms of investment or jobs. To finance our public investment programme and to make funds available for capital investment in British industry, we will need to borrow and make available to British industry some of these billions the pension funds, the insurance companies and the banks have invested in - just to take the Mineworkers' Pension Fund as an example - such job creation projects as an office development in Tampa, Florida and the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. It is surely a false logic that contributors to pension funds and other savers should want their savings invested overseas, increasing the chances of themselves and their neighbours becoming unemployed, which will mean they either give up their benefits or try and enjoy them in the midst of increasing misery. We must invest our surplus in our industry for our future: exchange controls and investment controls are our economic lifeline. That in summary is the AES: planned reflation mainly through increased public spending; containing inflation by price controls; control of foreign trade to protect the balance of payments; a real industrial strategy with a major element of industrial democracy; and control on the export of capital to ensure its investment at home. The AES is a comprehensive set of policies that reinforce one another: aimed at spending some more money to employ us the unemployed to do real jobs rather than just sign our names once a fortnight, and finding that money from the City instead of allowing it to flow abroad. Only these policies together will, the Labour Party and the TUC believe, bring unemployment down without unacceptable effects on inflation or the balance of payments or both. The Tory wets and the Alliance also favour an increase in public spending, but their free trade nostalgia forces them to reject most of the rest: to reject import controls, exchange controls and economic planning, democratic or otherwise. They believe that if they increase demand Small British Businesses will recover "confidence" and arise and conquer the world, or at any rate the EEC. This recipe has been tried by both Tory and Labour Governments in the past, and has failed to ensure long-term investment in British industry and real job security. In a world where more and more of both industry and finance are multinational, it really means Britain should try and provide more incentives for investment than really cheap labour economies like South Korea and Brazil or even Turkey and Portugal, and no realistic incomes policy in the U.K. is going to offer the same profit levels as landless peasants living in overcrowded shanty towns. The AES offers planning not for profit but for need, and starts with a public investment programme directed at areas of need we can all identify. It is a real alternative, one that will form the basis of Labour's manifesto at the next election. For the unemployed in Reading and elsewhere it offers not just a promise for the future but a structure within which we can work with trade unions, combine committees, community groups, the Labour Party and Labour Councillors to develop and campaign for local policies, priorities and projects that will get us back to work where we know we belong. Pete Ruhemann - - - CND MEMORIES In 1963, long before the motorway had reached Reading, and only geographers used the term 'Thames Valley', this town still had notoriety. In those days CND marchers walked all the way from Aldermaston bomb factory to their rally in London. On Friday, 12 March, 1963 the annual CND march se toff from Aldermaston. The usual crew of ardent Christians and Marxists with short hair and duffle coats. Everyone felt terribly naughty but it was all that was going - hippies were still beatnicks then. LSD was pounds, shillings and pence and Paris '68 was five years off and in another country. But in 1963 strange and sinister figures mingled with the crowd of marchers. They started to hand out leaflets which warned "Possession of this leaflet is an offence under the Official Secrets Act". Soon they had passed on bundles for other marchers to give out. By the time the leaflets had reached the CND leadership nobody could identify those originally responsible. The leaflets gave details of RSG-6 - the underground Regional Seat of Government for Berkshire. The document was well researched. It gave the location of the bunker - at Warren Row just off the A4 east of Reading - and listed those local and national establishment figures who had an invitation to spend World War III there. It even gave RSG-6's secret telephone number! The marchers spent the night in Reading and policemen dressed like Humphrey Bogart started questioning people. Nobody could help. The "Spies for Peace", as they had signed themselves, had melted away. Next morning the march set off on the next leg of the journey to London. The lunch break was to be taken on the A4 just past the lane that leads to Warren Row. The CND leadership was fuming about this attempt by extremists to muscle in on "their" march. Anarchists and Committee of 100 members tried to whip up enthusiasm for a detour to RSG-6. They had some success with the marchers but not so much with the leadership. The more patient walked and talked with those who claimed to be unable to see any connection between nuclear disarmament and fall out shelters for politicians and government officials! A group moved ahead to try to paint or chalk markings to indicate the turning off the A4 to Warren Row, but they were driven off by police. In the end no marking was necessary. The Committee of 100 had produced leaflets calling for a detour and when the marchers reached the lane to RSG-6 they met two silent figures - one holding the large black and red flag of the old London Anarchist group, the other, a Committee of 100 member, holding a placard pointing the way. The CND leadership was less than silent. The late Peggy Duff went to the CND loudspeaker van and bawled (with almost unbelievable underestimation of the mood of the marchers) "Keep moving, marchers....on to your lunch break....NO FOOD DOWN THERE, MARCHERS....carry on to your lunch break...keep moving." Many followed her advice but others turned left down the narrow lane in their hundreds. They knew they were on the right road when they came to an enormous arrow painted on the tarmac. Beneath the arrow was painted RSG-6 in letters six feet high - the painters had got through after all. The demonstrators surrounded the site (it didn't have a chain link fence in those days) and the police concentrated on protecting the entrance to the bunker itself. They tried to rough up a few demonstrators but soon stopped when the cry of "Cameras, cameras" went up. The demonstrators occupied the site for about two hours (some stayed until the evening and were thrown off by the police when the number of demonstrators became small enough.) The police couldn't do very much. One woman police constable did appeal to the marchers to "please, PLEASE, stop teasing the police dog". Lacking a Special Patrol Group they sent for the Chief Constable of Berkshire. Unfortunately, he really didn't have enough presence to carry the day. The plods were certainly impressed but the demonstrators were decidedly underwhelmed. Eventually the march found its way to London. More and more of the leaflets appeared as marchers slipped off to duplicate more. Marchers chanted the contents of the leaflet. There was also the only incident of someone being arrested for singing an Official Secret. But that takes us out of Reading where the "Spies for Peace" scandal began. Today it might be different. The police would send for the heavy mob and not the Chief Constable, and they'd go about their work regardless of cameras. Reading now has a motorway. Some things, of course, haven't changed. Aldermaston is still there. RSG-6 is still there (you may still be able to ring the bell and talk to the caretaker). The bombs are still with us; CND is still with us (and it still hasn't produced an analysis or vision that is worthy of the thousands of ordinary people who follow its banner). This all makes lousy history. Can we try to write a happy ending? Frank Lome - - - WE AS CHILDREN We as children do not wish to be blown to bits, We as children would like to keep our souls and wits, We want to stay alive, And live, and live, We want to stay alive. Wars are stupid, unwanted and kill innocent men, Soon there won't be room in Heaven for all who land up there, All we want is Peace, For all our days, And for our followers. It's alright for you, you don't care about us people, You go underground and live long and well while we are suffering up above. I want to live as well, When I grow, if I grow, I want to live as well! Christine Revell, aged 11. - - - A DAY OUT WITH THE WIMPS Berkshire Police State? - Shock Horror Probe Flower Power? Wimps Against Nasty Killers (Gardening Crew) were caught in the act of planting a 25-foot peace symbol in daffodils on a section of the M4 embankment last week. Incredulous motorway police were unofficially amused but names were taken and mention was made of "the glasshouse"(sic). Unimpressed with arguments that "It's for the benefit of society, guv" they were more concerned with the danger of a 40 ton lorry jack-knifing 35 yards up the verge and flattening the workmen. However, if they apply to Berkshire County Council Highways Division they may get a letter giving them official permission to get flattened. - - - GREENHAM SHERIFF'S POSSE RUNS RAINBOW CAMPERS OUT OF NUCLEAR CITY The crew thought Newbury District Council's attempts at "landscaping" the grass verge outside USAF Greenham (dumping a load of massive boulders and ripping up the grass with bulldozers) gave a fair impression of the aftermath of a nuclear attack. However, these ornamental additions have added to the discomfort of the Women's Peace Camp, forced by court edict to live without proper shelter. The brightly painted caravans have been towed away and the post-holocaust atmosphere is enhanced by the bedding laid out to dry on the rocks and the plastic-swathed piles of gear scattered round the campfire. Police harassment has increased lately, to the extent that duty officers are to be found lurking in the shrubbery at night and no structures are allowed on the common, though they are entitled to "fresh air and exercise". Two young children visiting the camp were put down to sleep under two umbrellas and a sheet of plastic but were forced to vacate their shelter and spend the night in the open; three of the women have been taken to hospital with food poisoning because they have nowhere to prepare food out of reach of rats and one woman was arrested for painting a slogan on a bus-stop bench, despite the fact she offered to remove the paint or paint the whole seat. A local resident had indicated public awareness of the issues involved in the protest when in a Newbury laundrette she said to one of the peace campers: "We could have bought another cruise missile with the money we've spent on you lot." (How d'you cook it?). Despite all this, morale seemed fairly high, higher anyway than that of the Rainbow Campers down the road: about 8 of them left with 4 or 5 caravans, evicted by about 60 police, the Sheriff and his 10 sniggering bully-boys, who cast V-signs our way and pounced on the fact that our car had an out-of-date tax disc as proof of dissident nature. Having forced the Rainbow Camp to move ("Get out of town by sundown...") police promptly booked them for various vehicle offences once they hit the road. Thus hampered in their efforts to set up a peaceable community, the campers have now moved to Bath, perhaps to return at a later date-who knows? - - - RED RAG'S FAMOUS GOING OUT GUIDE Sun 17 Hex-Endellion String quartet (Mozart) 7.30 £2.50/£3.50 Fives-The Seven ages of Man lunchtime free Allied Arms St Mary Butts-Readifolk (live music) 8pm free South Hill Park Bracknell (SHP)- 12.15 Kadoyng(U) + Ambush at Devil's Gap Episode 6(U) 75p 7.30 Despair(AA) 7.30 £1.90 Angies Milton Road Wokingham-The Laverne Brown Band £1 + £1 membership 9ish Mon 18 Reading Art Gallery-Exhibition by 4 Reading artists,to 13th November,free University-Start of Peace Week,18th-23rd October,see Events Guide University Palmer Building- 1) Room G10 'Chariots of Fire' 7.30 tickets £1 in advance only from University library 12-2pm (+ in Union) 2) Room 109 'La Femme de l'Aviateur' english subtitles £1.20 8pm Hex-Neil Sedaka 6pm £5.50-£7.50, 8.45 £6.50-£8.50 Hex-Exhibition-Shapes by J.H.Hewitt To 30th The Horn St Mary Butts-Jazz 8pm free The Plough Tilehurst-Kennet Jazz Band 8pm free SHP -Independent films 7.30 free Tue 19 Hex-Chris Bonnington 7.30 £2-£3 " Talk on Edward Lytyens free University-Faculty of Letters Theatre 'The Birthday Party'(Pinter) 7.30 80p.To 23rd University-The Thompson Twins + Tears for Fears £2.50,£2.75 on door Playhouse Oxford-Women beware Women Mon-Fri 7.45 £3.90,Sat 2.45 + 8pm To 30th.Some concessions SHP-7.30 Missing(A) £1.90 To 23rd 8pm New Europa Jazz Band 8pm £1.90 + £2.20 8pm Don Pasquale (Opera Recital) £2.50/£2.75 Theatre Royal Windsor-Deathtrap(by Ira Levin) till Nov 13. Windsor 53888 Wed 20 Hex-1.10pm Yitkin Seow (violin) free " 7.30 Bamberg Symphony Orchestra £3.50-£6 Grosvenor House Kidmore Road C'sham-Jazz 8pm free Reading; Film Theatre(RFT) Palmer Building University-Ordinary People(AA) 8pm £1.50 £1 members SHP-Don Pasquale see above Thu 21 RFT-as above Progress Theatre-Missaliance 7.45 £1.80 To 30th + concessions 4 Horseshoes B'stoke Road-Jazz 8pm free University-Palmer Building, 'What is feminism?' 7.30 Discussion + film Angies Wokingham-London Apaches £1 + £1 membership 9ish Bracknell College Church Road-Recital 12.45-1.30 free Fri 22 Town Hall-Exhibition 'Five Islands of the West Indies' 20p + 23rd RFT-Jean Vigo Retrospective 7.30 subtitled £1.50 £1 members Central Club London Street-Jamaica's No.l sounds 'Jahlovemusik' +DJ Brigadie Gerrard + Operator Milawi £3 till late Caribbean Club London Street-'So What' l0ish £1.50 University-CND benefit disco 8pm-l 60p last entry 10.30-union cards needed Annies Wokingham -John Spencer Band £1 + £1 membership 9ish Bulmershe College-The Ballistics + Brothers of Beat (+ possibly another band?) 8Pm-late SHP-7.45 The Sleeper Awakes(theatre) £1.90/£2.20 + 23rd 8pm Don Pasquale see 19th. 8.15 Barter Party (Welfare State) 11pm State of Siege (AA) £1.90 + 23rd Winnersh Community Hall-60's Soul Night 7.30-late £1.50 in advance phone 61423 Aldershot Centre-Dave Swarbrick + Beryl Marriot + Whitaker's Patent Remedy £2 Sat 23 Hex-State Express World Team Snooker Classic £2-£7 depending on day and time. To 31st Town Hall-Cultural Evening organised by West Indian womens circle £1.50 OAPs + kids 75p 6.30 Friends Meeting House Church Street- Exhibition/open day Tracing Your Ancestors 10-5 free Angies Wokingham -KKKhan 9ish £1 + £1 membership SHP-Exhibition Ralph Steadman Illustration To 28th " 10.30am Scarecrow Extravaganza (Welfare State) free 8pm Don Iasquale as above 8pm Strawhead (folk) £1 + £1.20 Aldershot Centre-Will Gaines + Trio + Brian Cookman £2.50 Sun 24 Fives-Zero Zero lunchtime free Allied Arms St Mary Butts -Readifolk 8pm free St Lawrence Church Hall Abbey Square- Record Fair all day Angies Wokingham-Ruthless Blues 9ish £1 + £1 membership SHP-Lute Music of the Renaissance and Baroque Era 8pm £1.60/£1.80 " Water Bikes (U) + Project 'Z' (U) 12.15 75p Mon 25 The Plough Tilehurst -Kennet Jazz Band 8pm free The Horn St Mary Butts-Jazz 8pm free Early Learning Centre Kings Road-Kids activities-Halloween Pun l0am-midday To 29th SHP -Kess(U) 75p To 30th Independent films including Rosie the Riveter 7.30 free Tue 26 University-Stiff Little Fingers £2.50 £3 on door University-Palmer Building -University String quartet 1.10pm admission by programme 15p Woodley Playhouse Headley Road-Brush with a body(play) 7.45 £1.25 Redgrave Theatre Farnham-'Piaf' 8pm Farnham 715301 for details SHP-Lennie Best + Kathy Stobhart 8pm £2/£2.20 (jazz) SHP-The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (AA) 7.30 £1.90 To 30th Watermill Theatre Newbury-The Paper Town Paper Chase (kids) llam/2pm £l-£3.50 To 30th Wed 27 Grosvenor House Kidmore Road-Jazz 8pm free RFT-Elephant Man (AA) 8pm £1.50 £1 members Thu 28 Shinfield Players Theatre-(Whitley Wood Lane) 'Night Must Fall' 7.45 £1.20 + concessions To 30th 4 Horseshoes B'stoke Road-Jazz 8pm free Top Rank-Toto Coelo 7.30 Horse + Barge Duke Street-Dave Burland 8 pm £? RFT-as above Angies Wokingham-Twelfth Night 9ish £1 + £1 membership Bracknell Coilege-Lecture Recital 12.45 -1.30pm free SHP-Park Theatre Workshop AGM 8.30 Princes Hall Aldershot-Godspell 8pm Sat matinee 3pm £2/£3 + concessions To 30th Fri 29 University-Bridges Hall-The Belle Stars 8.30 £? Caribbean London Street-Daze of Heaven l0ish £1.50 Angies Wokingham-Dave Ellis Band 9ish £1 + £1 membership Wokingham Theatre Norreys Ave-'All my sons' 7.45 £? To 6th Nov. SHP -7.45 Temba Dance Co. in The Island £l.90/£2.20 To 30th 8.15 Julie Felix £2.75/£3,£3/£3.25 on night 8pm Recital (Mozart,Brahms,Beethoven) £2.75/£3 11pm. The Parallax View (AA) £1.90 To 30th Sat 30 Central Club London Street-The Volcanoes + King Dick sounds £2.50 8 till late Caribbean London Street-Great Mistakes lOish £1.50 Angies Wokingham-Illusions 9ish £1 + £1 membership SHP-Charlie Yarwood (folk) 8pm £l/£1.20 " Exhibition to 28th Nov.-Elaine Shemilt Aldershot Centre-Steel + Skin-Afro-Caribbean spectacular (+ reggae workshop in pm) £2.50 Corn Exchange Wallingford-Gordon Giltrap 8pm £2.50 in advance £2.75 on door Sun 31 Fives-Larry Miller Band lunchtime free Allied Arms St Mary Butts-Readifolk 8pm free Angies Wokingham-Juvessence 9ish £1 + £1 membership SHP-12.15 Peregrine Hunters(U) + Project 'Z' Episode 2 (U) 75p 7.30 Lilli Marlene(AA) £1.90 7.30 Halloween Fancy Dress Ball £2/£2.20 for adults,kids £l/£1.20 Mon 1 Hex-Wrestling 7.30 £2/£2.50 The Plough Tilehurst-Kennet Jazz Band 8pm free The Horn St Mary Butts-Jazz 8pm free Progress Theatre-Hard Feelings 7.45 £2.50 SHP-Independent films 7.30 free Cinema details for one week beginning Sun 17th: ABC Friar Street $3931 1) Deathtrap 2) Poltergeist(x) except Wednesday,Tess(A) 3) A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (AA) ABC London Road 61465 Pink Floyd-The Wall(AA) Odeon Cheapside 57887 1) An American Werewolf in London (X) + Love at first Bite (AA) 2) The Entity(X) ABC Bracknell 20072 1) Pink Floyd-The Wall(AA) 2) Deathtrap(A) Special Announcements --------------------- Another famous Red Rag social will be at The Crown on Weds 20th,8-12,price £1 South Hill Park News Welfare State are holding their Scarecrow zoo celebration and imagination recovery service at South Hill Park from October 22nd to November 5th. Grand and spectacular pyrotechnic displays, barn dances, lantern processions, mummer style plays and the Doomsday Colouring Book Show will all be taking place, Halloween and November 5th being special highlights. For full details contact South Hill Park. Bracknell 27272 Tickets are now on sale for Squeeze at the Top Rank on November 5th (their last tour before splitting up) Thanks to those people who sent details of their events-if you have anything you want to advertise here please phone Reading 663083. - - - RED RAG'S INFAMOUS EVENTS GUIDE Red Rag Events Diary from October 18th Mon 18 University Peace Week. See entries each day. to All events at the Whiteknights campus of the Sat 23 University. Exhibition all week in the Coffee Lounge of the Students' Union. Mon 18 University Peace Week: 1-2pm Students' Union coffee lounge: "The War Game" film. 7.30pm Palmer Building: Anne Yarwood of World Education Berkshire on redeploying resources from arms manufacture to socially useful products. Anarchists: weekly meeting at 8pm. Contact Paul on 52604 for venue. Berks Anti-Nuclear Campaign: planning meeting for Dec 12. 8pm 27 Salisbury Road. Gay Soc:"Families: mums and dads, lesbian/ gay parents, single parent families... a discussion on what families mean to us." All gay people welcome. 8pm in the Council Room Students' Union, the University, Whitek'ts. The Social Role of Independent Film: from the 70s: "Space between Words" (Graef) + "Behind the Rent Strike" (Broomfield). 7.30 at South Hill Park, Bracknell. Wokingham Peace Group: Jane Oherman on the UN Disarmament Session. 8pm Wok. Town Hall. Tue 19 The Women's Centre: is open Tuesdays and Saturdays 10.3O - 2pm. Basement of Old Shire Hall, Abbey Street off King's Road. NHS Dispute: Oxford region march in Oxford. Assemble 12 noon behind St Ebbs shopping centre; march to rally and demonstration outside Oxford Regional Health Authority HQ Coaches from Reading: contact Jim Roy on Reading 586161 ext 227. Help on Reading picket lines: contact Jim Roy. "Parties and Power in Socialist Societies": 20-week course on the theory and practice of the socialist state. You can go to the first few without paying anything. Details, from Mark on 599804. 7.30 at Cooper's Hill Community Centre, Bracknell. University Peace Week: 1.10pm Union Hall. Winston Churchill MP on Defence policy.... 7.30pm Palmer Building: speaker from Hunt Sabouteurs. Civic Society: talk with slides on Edward Lutyens by Roderick Gradidge. 8pm in the Vachel Room, the Hexagon. Free. B.A.N.C. Nuclear Power Working Group: Meeting to follow up the general meeting on Oct 12: how to publicise the Sizewell campaign in Reading. 8pm at 14 Western Elms Avenue, Reading. Reading City Farm: a meeting for all interested. The Farm has finally got a lease out of the Council and can start doing something more constructive. 8.30pm at 26 Henley Wood Hoad, Earley. Contact Helen Tranter on 64907. Wed 20 "Reading's Education at the Crossroads": a meeting organised by Reading Community Work Training Group on the future of education in Berks. "The group who are starting the new Greater Reading Advisory Centre for Education have been working for a better and fairer system in Reading and will share the results of their work." 7.30pm at the Unemployed Centre, East St. University Peace Week: 7.30 Palmer Building speaker from "Peace Now" of Israel. Friends of the Earth: meeting on Sizewell B to 'react' to last week's B.A.N.C. meeting on the subject and write protest letters. 7.45 at the Museum, Blagrave St. RED RAG Social: 8-12 at the Crown, Crown St £1 or fill in a banker's order. Have fun and support your Rag too. Socialist Workers' Party: weekly meeting at the Red Lion, bottom of Southampton St, 8pm This week: "1972 - or how Trade Union leaders organised the downturn" by Pete Glatter. For babysitter phone 599597. Berks Anti-Nuclear Cappaign: committee meeting. All members welcome. 8pm, Old Shire Hall, Abbey St (off King's Road). Reading Baha'i Faith: talk on "Science and Religion". 8pm AUEW Hall, 121 Oxford Road. University Peace Week: 1pm Palmer Building: speakers from Women Against Violence Against Women and the Reading Rape Crisis Collective. 7.30 Palmer Bdg: Medical Campaign against Nuclear Weapons on the role of the medical profession in nuclear war. 7.30 (sic) Palmer Bdg: Tim Shallice on "Psychological Research and the military" 8pm Chaplaincy Centre: the Corrymeela Group on peace in Northern Ireland. History of Reading Society: "Reading Dispensary Trust" by William Dear. 7.30 Abbey Gateway room, the Forbury. Fri 22 and Sat 23 "Five Islands of the West Indies": educational and cultural exhibition put on by the West Indian Women's Circle. Displays, films slides, Afro-Caribbean folk dancing, lots of food.10-5 both days. Admit by programme 20p (children free). Plus Sat 7-11 £1 (kids & OAPs 50p). Old Town Hall, Blagrave St. Fri 22 Berks Humanists: an inquest on their Radio 210 discussion programme. 7.30 at the Savacentre restaurant (junction of the A4 and M4.) University Peace Week: 1pm Union Hall: Mike Thomas MP on the SDP's Defence policy.... 1-2pm Peace Pledge Union film van will show films outside Students' Union main door. 8pm disco in Students' Union in aid of CND. Jean Vigo (30s French anarchist film director): complete retrospective. Reading Film Theatre. 7.30, Palmer Building, the University, Whiteknights. Reading North Labour Party: "Education: what future for 16-19 year olds?" Graham Lane, chairperson of the Socialist Educational Assoc. All welcome. 7.30 at AUEW Hall, 121 Oxford Road. Defence and Disarmament: conference for VI form students, youth club members & young unemployed. Alfred Sutton VI form Centre. No more details. Sat 23 and Sun 24 Ecology Party National Conference (no, the SDP wasn't the last one!) in Bridlington. Contact Maria Callies 663195 for details. Sat 23 Berks County Council meeting: 10.30 Shire Hall, Shinfield Road. Labour History Group: jumble sale. 2pm at the Community Centre at Victoria Recreation Ground (off George Street). Yoga Seminar: 10-4.30 at Alfred-Sutton Girls' School, Green Rd. Details from Mr P. Goriup 471732. University Peace Week; 10am onwards, Students' Union coffee lounge: workshops on "Non-violent direct action", "women and the peace movement" and "inner peace". European Nuclear Disarmament Supporters' conference 10.30 - 5.30, City University, London. Details Mostyn Davey Rg 666631. Animal Aid; national protest march & rally in Bristol (against expts at Bristol Univ). Assemble 1.30 Durdham Down (near Parry's Lane). March 2.30 thro' City centre to rally 4pm Castle Park. Details of coaches: 0732 364546. Sun 24 Babies Against the Bomb demonstration, in London. "All anti-nuclear supporters welcome (pushchair or not)." Assemble 1pm at Speaker's Corner, Hyde Park; via Downing St to rally 3.30 Jubilee Gardens. Details BAB 01-267 0474 or 3067. Mon 25 The Social Role of Independent Film: "Under Age" (Lizzy Lemon, Kim Longinotto) + "Rosie the Riveter". 7.30, South Hill Park, Bracknell. Woodlgr Peace Group + Earley BANC: self-education meeting - talks to spread the result of research into various areas. 8pm, 3 Bingley Grove, Woodley. Gay Soc: "What is Pornography?" A slide show to provoke thought and talk. All gay people welcome. 8pm in the Council Room, Students' Union, the University, Whitekn'ts Tue 26 Berufsverbot ("professional ban"): Hans Peter, post office worker for 30 years then sacked for membership of German Communist Party - the sacking later ratified by the highest court in Germany. 1-2.30pm in the Palmer Building (room G03), the University, Whiteknights. Wed 27 W.E.A. Industrial Branch: teach-in: "Health Care and the Social Services": new issues & perspectives and doubtless NHS organisation and the cuts. 7.30 at the Centre for the Unemployed, East St. Friends of the Earth: meeting to start preparations for an exhibition in the Library in January to coincide with the start of the Sizewell inquiry. 8pm at 27 Instow Road, Earley. S.W.P. "Is China Socialist?" by Phil Byrne. Details as last week. Fri 29 Amnesty; Christmas Sale (eh?): United Reform Church, Broad St. Fri 29 to Sun 31 The Moving Left Show: Marxism Today's "festival of politics controversy and entertainment". 50 "sessions" on wide range of topics. £8 (£4.50 unwaged). Queen Mary Coll.,Mile End Rd, London E1. Details: Jo Newman, Moving Left Show, 16 St John St, London EC1. Tel 01-251-4406. Sat 30 WEA Industrial Branch; Day school on Trade Unions and the Media: with workshops on writing press releases, radio interviews, etc. Last day school was good. 10.30am, Centre for the Unemployed, East St. Sat 30 and Sun 31 Halloween Festival at Greenham Common. Gather at Green Gate (works entrance). Bonfire Sunday; direct action workshops. Contact: Bruce 07255 652, Fran 0272 44167 or David 0480 63054 for details. Sun 31 Pagans Against Nukes: out of doors. Get in touch c/o 69 Cranbury Road, Reading. Mon 1 First of the Month meeting of Reading women's groups and Women's Centre. 7.30pm at the Women's Centre, basement of Old Shire Hall, Abbey St (off King's Road). All women welcome. Independent Films: "It Ain't 'Alf Racist Mum" (CARM) + "So that You can Live" (Cinema Action). 7.30 S.H.P, Bracknell. All-Party Debate (including Eco Party) organised by Bracknell CND. 8pm at Bracknell College. Gay Soc: hosts a social evening for gay people in groups all over the Thames Valley. All gay people welcome. 8pm Council Room, Students' Union, University, Whiteknights. Wed 3 SWP: "Portugal in '74" by Jack Robertson. 8pm the Red Lion, Southampton Street. Sun. 7 RED RAG Collective meeting. 4pm Acorn Bookshop under Chatham St carpark. ---omitted on Mon 25th: University Ecology Group: speaker meeting on the importance of political ecology, also planning future campaigns and events. READING ANARCHISTS will be hosting a Guy Fawkes celebration and get-together of groups and individuals in the area on November 5th and 6th. Contact the group at Box 19, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading or ring Paul on 526O4 if you'd like to come especially if you'll want accommodation. READING SOUTH ECOLOGY PARTY sells Green Line on the streets on Saturdays. If you'd like to help phone Maria Callies 663195. They're also aiming to take up the dumping of toxic industrial waste as a local issue as has been done in Slough. RED RAG OUTLETS: pick up your Rag at: Acorn Bookshop, under the Chatham St carpark Pop Records. 172 King's Road Reading Centre for the Unemployed. East St. Our Price Records. Butts Centre (downstairs) Lazer Records. Butts Centre (upstairs) Reading Emporium. Merchants Place (off Friar St) Ken's Shop. Students' Union, Whiteknights. The last issue went like hot cakes whatever that means. To make sure you get a copy free to your door give your address to Nick on 666681 or Chris on 61257. Weekly events at the UNEMPLOYED CENTRE: Mon 10 - 1 Knitting, hand and machine 10 - 1 Basic English 1.30 - 2.30 RBC Action Van 2 - 4 Basic sewing Tue 10 - 1 Silkscreen printing 2 - 4 Pottery Wed 10 - 1 Basic arithmetic 2 - 4 Batik Thu 10 - 1 Basic English 2.30 - 4.30 Drama group Fri 2 - 3 Users' committee meeting - - - SHOULD MILITANT EXPEL THE LABOUR PARTY? Outside the AUEW I bought a copy of 'Militant' ("the Marxist paper for Labour and Youth"), partly because I'd never actually read one, partly to distinguish myself from the 'Evening Dross' reporter who ostentatiously refused one. There was an article on Poland which I found interesting (it's not so easy to claim that the solution for Poland is a fundamental socialist transformation of society based on a £90 minimum wage a 35 hour week with no loss of pay and the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the British economy i.e. the top 200 monopolies..,) Otherwise, as an agitational paper, it's boring and naive and not a patch on even 'Socialist Worker'. There were about forty people at the meeting; with "a lot of new faces". Militant (officially it's just a paper) and the Labour Party Young Socialists seem quite strong in the area (apparently that's usual in "marginal" seats). The posters and slogans duly put on the walls ("Fight the Tories not the Socialists"), we had first a speech from a delegate to the Labour Party conference, then a string of little speeches ("questions") from the floor. (Militants all seem pretty eloquent.) As there was practically no disagreement I'll just try to sum up the main argument:- The Labour Party and the Trades Unions have a membership moving to the Left and a leadership moving to the Right. At a time of a, sorry the, world crisis of capitalism instead of spearheading an attack on capitalism and the Tories, the leadership is attacking the Left. "Having lost the argument they are resorting to organisational means!" The rank and file must make the leadership accountable. More important the Left must take over the leadership (the Left is automatically accountable because the rank and file is Left). Thus where the rank and file had a voice at the conference everything went well (e.g. the vote for unilateral nuclear disarmament). The misuse of the block vote by Right T.U. leaders forced the register through. It is "the last desperate throe of a discredited Right wing." It can't possibly work: a few individuals may be expelled but you can't drive ideas out and the workers are being forced to turn to "Marxism" (no more than a synonym for "the Militant" and its programme so far as I could tell). For every one Militant expelled another ten will be created. We must "transform and retransform" society with no half measures and make the Labour Party an active campaigning party on the lines of the Young Socialists. All in all a remarkable bundle of half sense and nonsense. Someone said it was important to get the youth of the country into the Y.S. to save them from the N.F. It sounds a pretty depressing alternative to me and maybe helps explain the appeal of the populist far Right... The one attempt to get any sort of debate going came from a member of 'Workers' Power'. He asked why Militant was making such a fuss about expulsions without actually calling for a boycott of the register. He also asked why the effort of Militant should be so much to replace Right leaders in the Unions instead of attacking their power, and the block vote itself. The reaction to this (apart from sneers at the punity of Workers' Power) showed up the fundamental absurdity in Militant. They really and honestly see the Labour Party and the Trades Unions as essentially and historically working class organisations, the structure of which must not be attacked. The block vote? It's an "expression of working class power". Right wing leaders? They're just careerist politicians who have somehow jumped onto the back of the working class. Militant will do all it can to secure the election even of Right Labour candidates, while at the same time working within the Party to replace them. They see no problem in their relation to the Labour Party - they are the Labour Party and that's that. (I really can't understand anyone having any illusions whatsoever about the Labour Party; it must need a remarkable head-in-the-sand attitude.) Because the Labour Party is not and has never been revolutionary they do not talk of revolution. They do talk of a "crisis of reformism" and how it's "impossible to reform capitalism" but to this they oppose not revolution but "a socialist transformation of society" - i.e. the programme of Militant. Just how "transformed" they really want society is anyone's guess. MPs should apparently get skilled workers' wages (so there'll still be MPs, differentials, wages?) Within a week of implementing Militant's programme, we were promised, everyone will get a £27 pay rise on top of their £90 minimum wage. And a 35 hour week of course. So everyone will be happy (relaxing in the Whitley Wood Leisure Centre?).... They do talk of "democratisation" of industry: this seems to amount to making a third of management boards workers: nothing about the work process itself. They gleefully quote statistics on suicide from the capitalist press to illustrate the misery of unemployment: surely unemployment frees people for creative revolutionary work? ("Double the Dole" sounds a much more constructive slogan than "35 hour week".').... Militant aren't that into creativity. I've had this nightmare since the meeting: fifty years from now 40 thin faced intense clean-shaven young men (men) will be gathered in a room to demand a fundamental socialist transformation of society based on a £500 minimum wage a 17 hour week with no loss of pay and the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the European economy i.e. the top 200 state monopolies... Then down to the Eagle for a booze-up. These people are sincere and dedicated. They clearly slog their guts out for the Labour Party and for "Marxism" in the Labour Party. (You can see why they get annoyed when office politicians say they don't belong in "their" party.) Their hatred of careerist politicians is something I like. If their programme is simplistic there's nothing wrong with that. If they are anti-intellectual there's nothing wrong with that either. But their programme is irrelevant and worse. Unlike some they seem clear in rejecting the "Stalinist" bureaucracies of Eastern Europe. So why can't they learn from that and from the British experience of nationalisation that monopoly capitalism and state monopoly leave little to choose between them? Did the campaign for a 40 hour week (which really did seem revolutionary to many people) bring about a "socialist transformation of society"? No. A campaign for a decent statutory minimum wage is just a waste of time - you can't remove poverty by passing laws about it. The programme says a lot about the "standard of living"; very little about the quality of life. I see the Militant supporters as the political equivalent of born again Christians. Their naive enthusiasm is deeply impressive but to the non-believer utterly irrational and misplaced. I left the meeting thoroughly depressed at the criminal waste of energy involved. J.M. P.S. Those who ought to know tell me I haven't sussed Militant at all: they are in fact highly devious conspiratorial Leninist revolutionaries aiming to force a Labour government into trying to carry out populist policies which international capital will resist, thereby provoking a revolutionary situation in which the secret society of Militant will assume command. This I find intriguing, bizarre, pathetic - and in the last resort unbelievable. Maybe I'll join them and find out.... - - - THEY BURN WITCHES, DON'T THEY? The Labour Party conference has this year decided to set up a "register of non-affiliated groups of members allowed to operate within the party". In other words the union leaders who cast the block-votes at conference have decided to kick out the troublesome lefties in the constituency parties. The first targets (for those of you who have been in solitary all year) are the largest organised left group in the Labour Party - the supporters of the newspaper "Militant". Last week local Militant supporters in Reading, as elsewhere, called a meeting under the title "Don't fight the Socialists - Hunt the Tory witches". The dozen or so contributions from Militant supporters ran the whole gamut of their politics; from "Space Invaders" (you can't stop us; every time a Militant supporter is sapped three more appear at the top of the screen, and they are all moving relentlessly downwards...... that part's true at least) to our "brothers and sisters in uniform" ( the police to you and me). On the burning question of the hour - which witches are which - they are less than fulsome. Everyone knows that: the Tories are trying to destroy everyone and everything; the Labour Party is moving inexorably left; a "left" Labour Govt. committed to "socialist policies" would "seize the commanding heights of the economy, nationalise the top 200 .... etc. etc.... triumph of socialism,"; the rank and file will "fight, and fight and fight again" to defend Militant; Militant supporters are succeeding in capturing the "commanding heights" of the Trade Union bureaucracy (CPSA, Bakers' Union). So there's no need to actually fight the Register in the constituency Labour Parties (CLP's) at all, let's just forget the whole thing and attack the Tories instead. Rah, rah, rah! The only thing wrong in the garden is the "out of touch" right wing leadership. So we get from Militant the call for more democracy in the Unions and more accountability of the leadership, and thus more lefties at the top. Get them out and us in and we're on our way folks; next stop socialism. In fact, despite Militant's dewy-eyed reports of a "leftward moving conference" the truth is that the right of the Labour Party are in the ascendant. And this time they aim to pull the plug on Militant's machine once and for all. And in politics as in Law, ignorance is no defence. The truth is that the might of the right lies in its grip on the Union block votes; the failure of the left in its unwillingness to challenge this stranglehold for fear of being seen as "Union bashers". Let's be quite clear - we (Workers Power supporters) are all in favour of any move to introduce democracy or accountability into the Unions and/or the Labour Party. The Unions are working class organisations despite the attempts of their "leaders" to convert them into executive arms of ACAS or (a la Sid Weighell) of the CBI. The Labour Party claims to be the Party of the working class. We don't think so, but millions out there do. We can either ignore what they think, or try to convince them otherwise. We seek to convince them by fighting alongside them to commit the Labour Party to an unequivocal, pro-working class, anti-capitalist program, and then implement it. It can't be done. Unlike Militant we say openly that it can't be done. But we won't just say it from the sidelines. We'll mix in, we'll be at the forefront of any fight for any step - however hesitant, partial or diffident - in this direction. We'll push for more and we'll never refrain from criticising the hangers-back, Militant included. We won't just say the Labour Party is useless for socialism, we'll prove it. Bat back to the pushing and criticising. Our old friends Militant won't challenge the Unions' block votes at conference. Why not? Especially considering it was the block vote that dropped them this time. Because they can't see the difference between the control by the Unions (who set up the Labour Party and still pay for it) of Their Party (which we support); and the control by the Union leaders of their members votes (which we don't). Militant say "democratise the unions" (no bad thing in itself) because then more left-wingers will be elected to positions of power. We say politicise the Unions; break the monolithic block vote into branch sized blocks; take the arguments to the members not the executive committees; make the "positions of Power" the branches, not the leaders' seats. Meanwhile back in the CLP's the witch-hunt is on. And how so Militant propose to fight the witch-hunters here on their home ground? They don't!! They would rather see "a few individuals" expelled than fight the Labour Party bureaucracy to the point where it would be faced with the prospect of disaffiliating large numbers of CLP's for not doing the dirty work of fingering the "witches.". It is claimed that disaffiliation would open the door to the Tories. They cheerfully disregard the fact that a determined movement in the CLP's, coupled with a boycott of the Register (which Militant has already applied to sign) would make the job of the witchhunters well-nigh impossible. In the face of such opposition, and the fight to democratise and politicise the Unions, the right can be beaten back. Militant seem hell-bent on seeing that this does not happen. But the alternative is a repeat of previous witch-hunts, purges and expulsions. They're building bonfires again comrades, and this time the stakes are even higher. C.H. - - - RED PAGES We aim to bring out a first edition of this, Red Rag's alternative directory to the Reading area, at the end of October. That's soon, right? So get an entry in for your group, campaign or organisation now. There's a form: available in Acorn Bookshop which has on it: name, address;, phone no, aims, no. of members, what heading you'd like to appear under, how to join or get involved, structure (who makes the decisions and how), current and past activities, meetings,, services and information provided, funding, whether you're part of a national organisation. Whatever is relevant to you. Send it to: Red Rag Red Pages, c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading. Inquiries to James on 666681. EVENTS Some people send us their programmes and events; others don't.... Which do you think are more likely to appear in our diary? Write to Red Rag Events c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading; or phone James on 666681. HOW TO GET INVOLVED WITH THE RAG + Write something! Send articles or news to us c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, preferably with a signature of some sort; and say whether you mind it being edited. Get it in early. + Typing: type to 12cm columns (to be photoreduced to 10cm). + Do a cartoon or picture. We can get photos screened from good quality prints if we get them early enough. + Distributing: offer to help in your area (ring 666681 or 61257) + If you'd like to help produce the next issue ring 666681: typing beforehand, pasting up on Sat 30th at Acorn, collating and labelling on Sun 31st. We'll need a car some time on Sunday. (There are two production groups who do alternate issues.) + Make a regular donation by standing order- (form available from Sue Clarke, 31b Milman Rd. Cheques (made out to 'Red Rag') should be sent to her.) - - - AHOY THERE, C'MON ! You may remember from my last article how I outlined Pirate Radio (or rather the lack of it) and how I dealt with a certain nasty character who sees to it that it stays that way. In this article I'll tell you a little bit more about him, and also another rather obnoxious chappie who made it his business to persecute the local C.B. fraternity before it was legalised. More on the Don Franklin saga; a few months ago the person who operates an information service for Free Radio, the Free Radio Service, Reading, P.O.Box 123. had a visit from Mr. Franklin. It seems that his address had been given out on a short wave station called WEFR, which incidentally doesn't operate from anywhere near Reading. Mr. Franklin took it upon himself to harass the person who runs this service, to the extent of going round to see the person, but fortunately got no information, and could find nothing at the address to incriminate anyone. The point of this is the apparently totally illegal way in which Franklin carries on his investigations. Anyway, any more information on this chap and I'll let you know. The next fellow I intend to deal with is so bad that even the Home Office call him "super grass". I do not wish to divulge his name, but I shall outline a few of his activities that preceded the legalisation of C.B. He was obsessed to the point of paranoia that people were actually talking on the air without a licence, and he made it his business to actually track down, and then to report to the authorities, the people concerned. One of his tricks was to find out where there was a C.B. 'meet' and go along and look at the cars that had rigs in, take the numbers and report them to the authorities. On one occasion he narrowly escaped when a crowd of irate C.B'ers took chase in their cars. All this while his wife sat in the car knitting! Indeed things got so bad that he had his phone put on intercept due to the threatening phone calls he was getting. Another ploy of his was to lure the operators on, using his own rig which he got from the Home Office. It was at this time that he employed the services of a private detective to help him. He lent him C.B. gear to assist him in the work. Unfortunately, the fellow liked what he heard on C.B. so much that he went on himself, much to the annoyance of his employer! They became the very best of enemies, and on one occasion whilst his former 'boss' was trying to track him, he gave chase and the poor fellow ended up running into the nick for protection. The police however weren't very helpful to him, knowing who and what he was. It is a real wonder that he never ended up in hospital. Now, he has the effrontery to go on C.B. himself, after everything he had done to impede its legalisation. So, if any of you 'good buddies' ever hear 'Cozy' on channel, tell him just what you think of him. Next time I hope to be a bit happier, and deal with real pirate radio, the stations from the sea, as well as any news on the land-based stations or any pirate news that happens to be floating around. I hope that I can stimulate a bit of interest in the subject locally, and that someone may get something going on the airwaves. That is why I have outlined the dangers in this area. It is up to us to ensure that any future operations are unimpeded by the authorities, as it is surely a basic right for people to broadcast if they want to, and to stop putting up with the media crap doled out to us on Radio 210 and the B3C. Curly - - - CENTRE FOR THE UNEMPLOYED CYCLE WORKSHOP Old cycles repaired and resprayed to a new condition. We also do repairs for donations. What we need is complete cycles or parts. We would like them donated but a small amount would be paid for them. Can be collected. Phone 596639 and ask for Bill. - - - PRESS FREEDOM NEARLY ATTACKED Just to put me in the correct mood of indignation and outrage, an official tried to throw me off the press gallery as the Borough Council started on 5th October. "Yes we know all about that," he said when I brandished a copy of the Rag. "So far as we're concerned you're a member of the public." But when I didn't go he fell back on vague threats about if any other members of the press arrived... (You do get a better view from the Press Gallery.) There followed a series of curious episodes culminating around half past midnight in the debate on the night shelter for the down and outs this winter. Here the Housing committee minute on the agenda was for rejecting the terms the Cyrenians had stipulated for running the shelter. Since then there's been a meeting between Councillors and the Simon Community, which had converted all sorts of unlikely people: Cllr Oliver announced that though before he'd thought the whole idea a "complete waste of time" he had been "very very impressed". Tory Housing chairman Ron Jewitt put up an amendment to let the Simon Community use the Keep of Brock Barracks. Passionate speeches for from Labour, it was the Liberals who opposed it on grounds of nuisance you might expect from the more neanderthal Tories. Everyone agreed the site wasn't ideal. Janet Bond drew attention to all the boarded up properties in town, but didn't actually recommend that the Council squat them. The message from Labour and Tories alike was that it was impossible to get anywhere else through the Council bureaucracy in time. "WE HAVEN'T GOT THE TIME!" John Silverthorne positively thundered. "Now come on you Liberals, where are your principles of humanity?" Where indeed? A lot of fuss was made over pensioners due to move into Council flats nearby - but this turned out to be next April!? Anyway, the Tories (21) and Labour (16) voted for the shelter, the Liberals (11) against. Jobs Earlier, relations between Cllr Jewitt and the Labour group had been less amicable. Mike Orton was nevertheless moved to declare that "much as I hate and detest him (Cllr Jewitt), I wouldn't like to see him made redundant." (!) This in the debate on a Labour "no redundancies" amendment to a Policy minute on cuts. "I sometimes wish I had Mike Orton on my side," (to protect him in his job) Ron Jewitt had just remarked with leaden irony. Graham Rush (Lab Environment spokesperson) for his part said that keeping the staff in fear of their jobs was "no way to run a happy business or Council or whatever you call it." I don't know what I'd call it; anyway, despite Mike Orton's lurid imagery (those making the cuts had better "keep a firm grip on the knife or they'll find it stuck between their shoulder-blades") the Liberals and Tories closed ranks to defeat that one. On the Abbey Gateway the dispute was not so much between the parties as between the Environment Committee (for permanent closure) and Transportation (against). Of course it'll be closed for two years in any case for the development of the King's Road Colossus site... The key speech here came from Cllr Fuad, who started off opposing it but finished up declaring that "permanent closure is the most sensible thing to do." A split vote went for permanent closure. A strange alliance was formed on the Great Knollys St "small business area". The idea is to "re-locate" noisy small businesses out of the way. Labour were up in arms over the rents to be asked. When Cllr Fowles said the Tories wouldn't support the amendment it took the wind out of Cllr Chilvers' sails: "That is one I wasn't expecting. I was going to rise and support Cllr Rush." So the estate agent and the Labour group voted in vain for small businesses against combined Liberal and Tory opposition... Dustbins On the initiative of "the well-known front bench of the Liberal group" Jim Day, there was a Policy recommendation to change Standing Orders to prevent debates at the end of meetings on subjects over which the Council has no powers. (E.g. recently on Aldermaston, the NHS dispute, rape and the police). Labour objected that these motions were about the only way "backbench" Councillors could presently influence the agenda. Ron Williams talked of a "move towards a rubber-stamping procedure," John Silverthorne said Councillors should "not just talk about emptying dustbins but use this Council Chamber as a wider forum of public debate" because "we are public figures and we are elected by the public". Hm... I've always found these debates pretty tedious myself - but they do give publicity to important issues in the Dross and the Chronic. Anyway, a Labour amendment was defeated. One item whose significance I'm not sure I understand was a Policy recommendation to give £1000 "ex gratia" for the repair of a private sewer in Uffington Close. This is in Jim Day's area and drew a venomous speech from Graham Rush on "the worst act I have ever known Cllr Day commit" in opposing a grant of £1000 for mentally handicapped children two years ago. Apparently not only is the Council not obliged to pay this money - it needs the approval of the Secretary of State to do so! Labour amendment defeated. The Hexagon Advisory Board was opened to the public and press, to the relief of most as it had become rather an embarrassment. The Board's Chairman Fred Pugh complained that the Board had been meant as a "small intimate talking shop" for the Hexagon director and others to have a "cosy little chat" (!) which would not be possible in the glare of publicity... World War II Rag readers might be interested in the debate on whether the May Say rally next year should be allowed to be held in the Forbury Gardens. Various Tories and Liberals said this wasn't a proper use of the gardens, that it might cause inadvertent damage, that the noise might frighten children... "My mind goes back to the second world war," began a rare speech from Cllr Baker, in which she described in graphic detail the single air raid on Reading (they had a memorial service in the Forbury) Cllr Silverthorne's mind went back to Nye Bevan in the Market Place in 1951. Marion Absolom recalled this year's rally as "a joyous occasion", with people dancing (I remember dancing) and children making daisy chains (whoops)... All to no avail. I wouldn't bother mentioning the proposed 25 bus route to Whitley except that the Chronicle made it out to be so important, calling it "controversial" because some people in Cressingham Road had got up a petition against it. Such concern for public consultation is touching; how anyone could actually manage to hear a bus turning in Cressingham Road is another matter. Tory Cllr Slater got up to state that he would oppose this bus route because once Labour had opposed a service he had wanted in Coley! Graffiti Cllr Sage (Environment Committee chairman) welcomed new powers in the Local Government Act to deal in particular with flyposting, "a particular bugbear of mine", "an uncontrolled commercial undertaking" (!) by prosecuting the organisers of flyposted events. Apparently Graham Rush has been speaking out in favour of flyposting in Committee, as a way of brightening up a dull town.... Anyway, as Ron Jewitt had said elsewhere, "I suspect that the graffiti makers are cleverer than any of us.".... Cllrs Bond and Chilvers asked what was being done to preserve the Abbey ruins (a technical specification is being prepared!) and decided to set up a Friends of the Abbey group.... From the last new Council house to be let to the next one there's a gap of 14 months... On the inspection of repairs to Council houses "we have modified the standards".... But the last word must remain with Cllr Rush, on how (to stop cars parking on the pavements) "We must fight... and use every bit of influence we have got." Why doesn't he write to the Council?. Diogenes - - - READING RAPE CRISIS LINE If you have been raped or sexually assaulted and want to talk about it, Reading Rape Crisis Line will listen in complete confidence. Ring Reading 55577 Sun 7.30-10.30pm 24 hour ansafone - - - BIGGLES Biggles Joins Famous Five in M4 Secret Convoy Chase 2 police motorcycle outriders,a converted MOD coach, 2 MOD Transits, an MOD fire-engine, 2 MOD Landrovers and 2 weird, sliding-backed heavy trucks with the legend "Mammoth Major" on the front, all carrying Services personnel, reputedly heavily-armed and trigger-happy. That's what a nuclear arms convoy looks like, though this one, sighted on the M4 between Newbury and Reading at 3pm last Thursday 7th, didn't carry the customary radiation warning signs. What if this lot jack-knifed 35 yards up the embankment - perhaps the MOD have a letter from the Highways Department covering this eventuality? Biggles at the wheel of our car needed little encouragement to infiltrate this lumbering death train, much to the unease of several MOD drivers, and follow it to its destination - surprise, surprise - ROF Burghfield! We managed to get the reg. numbers of these vehicles and have passed them on to various People for Peace who are amassing information on convoy movements in Britain. If you see a convoy on the road anywhere, jot down where, when, description and any numbers you can note etc and send them to Box 17, Acorn Bookshop. Photos would be very useful, too. What about all the CB people in Reading? Surely there must be some anti-nuke CB-ers who could get together to track these convoys across Britain? Roads would be safer without Nuclear Arms traffic, too! Direct action can take many forms and can start in small ways... Cheers, Wimps Against Nasty Killers - - - MONEY Red Rag Funds Before this issue Red Rag had £39.33 This Rag cost about £70, so we're in the red again. Donations please, to Sue Clarke 31b Milman Rd, Reading.(Cheques made out to 'Red Rag'. - - - GRENHAM COMMON. 12 Noon. Gathering & Celebration: October 30 & 31st HAALOWEEN Greenham Common: at Works Entrance(Green Gate) A339 Newbury to Basingstoke road. 2 miles from Newbury There will be workshops in nonviolent direct action Come self-sufficient. Entertainment Planet Waves Band Riff Raff Poets plus Guests Full Details: phone: Bristol 0272 44167. Reading 0734 478297 Huntingdon 0480 63054 Handley 07255 652 Please photocopy this poster & distribute in ever wider circles. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1982/1982-10-17.txt#2 $