reached us since by's iron-fisted Johns accused Johns Sheffield DISTURBING have within the sect, the Workers Revolutionary Party. The WRP, still led by the ageing Ayatollah Gerry Healy, had till last weekend been in continuous conference February. It scheduled to reconvene in three months time.
The reason for the latest crisis? Party chairperson Roy Battersby and Newsline journalist Stephen Johns had raised some moderate criticisms of the isolation of the WRP from the British class struggle. Batterscheekiness received an reply: he was suspended for three months. For good measure his wife was suspended as well National Union of Students conference next month. This would followed inaugural conference new Hance the term.
But, possibly prompted by rather accurate predicSUBIC tions in this the Communist Party announced the new development Morning article on March, breezily headlined It's all change for broad left'.
The author of the article, Steve Palmer, argued that the Drones ame broad left (which has mysteriously dropped its capital letters) is that, being a coalition of parties rather than individuals, excluded liberals (also with a small l).
There were no such old. fashioned sentiments of party loyalty at the "summit which decided on the change. The Communist Party itself evidently divided on the issue The National Organisation of delegates voted for the proposal, despite opposition of their executive.
As the voting was close and confused it was decided not to make the decision binding on regional Broad Lefts, with the result that there is likely to be a patchwork of different Broad Left and 'democratic alliance structures throughout the regions.
CP and NOLS leaders must hoping that the present arrangement will carry them through until NUS conference the outstanding problems will resolve them. selves later.
While they are , they might still conside sending a polite retraction of their earlier harsh denials that they would ever abandon the Broad Left. This could be accompanied by a contribution to the fund drive of the first accurately to predict what they were up to. Pin down Scargill ARTHUR SCARGILL. York shire miners' leader, will debate the issue of pin-ups in the pres with Anna Coote of the NU. Equality Working Party. The Trade Union Journalists sec. tion of the NUJ set up the debate: Scarill replied to a leter trom The debate began Petrie Sheffield published in Socialist Chal lenge which attacked his sexist ideas and the existence of pin-ups on page 3 of the Yorkshire Miner The Sen took up the stery and the Morning Star published a long letter from Scargill or the subject Samples of what he said:
The only gain is that of the girls (and their families) who delight at appearing in *Pin-ups are a bar of modern day living; they are part of life in some Socialist countries as indeed are beauty competitions.
"The Pirelli calendars featur ing nude and semi-nude women have now been classed as objets d'art by some collectors.
The motion at the debate is that pin-ups should not be used in the press. It will take place al 7pm on 11 April, NUFTO Hall Jockeys Fields, London WC1.
Socialist Challenge 22 March 1979 page 3
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Ayatollahs of Clapham High St