MANIFESTO TRIKE COMMITTEE, ELASGOW ARDLY ATTEMPT TO SMASH FELLOW-WORKERS! Miners, sad all Workers e Balsynes sally to tha ocialist Challenge 14 May 1979 The outcome Parliament is already Tories have a 43 scat overall majority. They will win every major vote.
Parliament may be termed the Act of God Strategy'. It relies on 44 Tory MPs and then being struck Without that the Tories will win every time.
A strategy of opposition based on leaves oppressed people to be savaged by the most reactionary government since the war.
It also ignores the fact that neither the capitalist class, nor the working class, nor any section of the oppressed, has ever pope ionin Parliament.
capitalist recognises this, It has never hesitated to use means outside Parliament to gain its ends.
The biggest weapon in this has been the courts and direct developed in the 1890s, changed the law by the infamous Taff Vale decision to fine unions for strike action.
Under the last Tory government the courts resurrected the ancient frame-up charge of conspiracy to attack Des Warren and the right to picket in the Shrewsbury case.
Under the last Labour government procedures on union recognition and Wilkes supportess of the infener set brica up a calcade of loyal City merchants on 2a known. The combination policy based on opposition in law by judges.
by lightning.
working and had its real strength for class certainiy means of When mass trade unions LEIL courts steel industry. ened.
March ITing of ultra-right wing employers such as George Ward, and totally arbitrary 'interpretation? of the When the courts have not been sufficient to oppose a government the capitalist class has always turned to more fundamental weapons. In 1914, when Home Rule was to be granted 1o Ireland, the Tory Party openly called armed resistanoe. The army refused, in the Curragh mutiny, to implement the Act of Parliament.
disobedience elected governments is still carried on by the armed forces. w nen in 1974, for exampic, the Protestant bigots went on strike in the North of Ireland, the Labour goverament ordered the army to break the strike. The army officers sabotaged the orders and allowed the Loyalist strike to win.
Even before it comes to such drastic steps the capitalist class has its own economic sabotage and resistance. In 1950-l for example, Labour government nationalised the The employers were determined it would not happen. They succeeded in effectively blocking the nationalisation by refusing to hand over production plans and preventing trained personnel cooperating with the government.
absurd believe that the capitalist class will obey the law where its fundamental interests are threatNo group in society ever has surrendered where it has the means to resist.
The way that every single basic right has been gained has been through action and opposition Parliament. Take for example the ver issue of the rights of Parliament itself How were these achieved?
It was certainly not through a debare in the House of Commons. It was settled through a Civil War between the armies of Parliament and those of the King. The rights of Parliament were gained tbrough the armed defeat and execurion of Charles I.
When another King, threatened these rights the supporters of Parliament rightly had no time for the 'rule of law either. They called on the troops to disobey the King and any officers loyal to him. They armed resistance. army of the Dutch king to invade and aid them. James I was overthrown by the threat of another Civil War in the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688.
The rights established by force and the threat of Torce. Acts of THOLE BIG It has been the same with every single right gained since then.
Take for example even the restricted right to choose who you want as your MP. That might seem elementary, But in fact it was achieved by enormous struggle.
John Wilkes was King George 111 and his supporters. In outside election result opponent as MP organised.
James Il, LILL MP.
prepared They called in the create it.
Parhament were merely an opponent of newspaper called The Nort Belton. the carly 1760s Wilkes was imprisoned in 1763 for "seditious libel" in attacking the King He was then elected MP for Middlesex The King, and his supporters Parliament, used their majority in th House of Commons to overturn th and install Wilke This move of the King wus greete with vast riots in London. Hug nationwide petitions and meetings wer AL subsequent Wilkes was four fimes re-clected, an each time barred from taking his seat e Pinally. faced with mas opposition outside, Parliament forced to back down and admit Wilkes In this case Parliament ratified th right to be clected as MP - - but it didn The right of women to vote appear so obviously fair and just that now n party would dare to openly challenge i You would think it was a right s obvious that Parliament arrived al through reasoned debare - and that i certainly the message of the Tory Party The rcality is totally differen Parliament steadfastly refused to gran VONGLTOSWOMEA The first majo attempt to raise the issuc in Parliamen was in 1866. Filly years later it was sti not granted. It never would have bee gained by a policy based on oppositio in the House of Commons.
Votes for women were pained by th tremendous militant campaign outsid
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