Defend democratic rights meeting success igh

potential criminals, he said.

But it was not just a question of law. Behind the new legislation an enormous industry of repression had developed. This involved telephone-tapping, the secret police, special armed patrol groups, raids. the planting of weapons and trials that were no more than frameups.

There is not a trade union office or a political organization in this country whose telephone is not continually tapped, he said.

The American CIA was also taking a closer interest in political repression in Britain. A top CIA official who specialized in 'dirty tricks' was now working full time at the US Embassy giving advice and help to the secret police and the security squads.

Gerry Healy said that one of the most important cases was the recent Soar Eire trial. This revealed the use of agents provocateur to incriminate activists on the left.

When the defence counsel asked the Department of Public Prosecutions to take up the case after the use of provocateurs had been clearly shown, DPP refused. This had, effect, legalized the use of vocateurs against the left.

The other major sign mounting repression was rise of : the military men were planning for possible war in Britain.

•We have the Calverts, Kitsons and ine Lutterbucks who go around saying they are against "urban guerrillas". When they talk about the need to comurban guerrillas they are really preparing for civil war against the working class. And when they talk about "counterinsurgency" ', they are talking about the infiltration gangs who frame and intimidate members of the left,' he said.

All the raids, the phoney bomb scares, the talk about urban guerrillas and political violence was designed, he said, to create the necessary atmosphere to prepare for mass repression against the working class.

He said the groups involved in the meeting had deeply-held differences. This was not a bad thing since they represented the movement of class forces, and in representing the movement of class forces, each group had a responsibility.

But the responsibility to wage the ideological battle in order to develop a revolutionary consciousness within the working class had to be protected against police and state repression. That was why joint defence was necessary.

'When we are talking about democratic rights, we are talking about the democratic rights of the working class. It is not a proGerry Healy question of gaining an advantage over one another in this battle, which allotect functionights out ot these TIONTS 'This fight must be waged by us, to rouse the masses to the danger and develop a mass movement around the issue of basic rights.' Duncan Hallas, national committee member of the International Socialists, said though there were considerable differences between the groups represented, they were united defence of militants with in the labour movement facing attack.

He said one major area of increasing repression was in industry, highlighted recently with the virtual banning of picketing.

He said this could only be answered by mass picket, as seen in the miners' strike, to defend workers in struggle.

Duncan Hallas went on to describe the series of raids launched against IS members last year. These, he said, had the aim of intimidating people on the left and adding to the Special Branch's store of information on left-wing groups. He said it had to be recognized that the working class had suffered a defeat in the battle against the wage freeze, but not a decisive defeat.

It is in these circumstances that the possibility of police reDuncan Hallas pression increases. It is very hard for them to come out with the brass knuckle and the hobnail boot when the mass movement is at a peak. But it is considerably easier when the movement is in recession, he said.

He said there was also a growth of collusion between the police, the Special Branch and employers to victimize workers who were members of political groups.

Two IS shop stewards had been victimized in this way.

It is absolutely vital to put pressure on the Communist Party on this issue. Their record is not good, despite the fact that their own members are and increasingly will be subject to this kind of repression. We must also pressure the Labour Party,' he said.

'Democratic rights were not handed by the government as the newspapers would have us believe, but they were fought for and taken by the working class. We are now entering into a situation where the ruling class is trying to chip away at the edge of these rights.

'We must not fall into the error of believing the battle is already lost. The fact is that the strength of the working class is unimpaired. We can and we will win.' Tariq Ali, national secretary of the International Marxist Group, Tariq All said that the bourgeoisie, who continually harped on the division within the movement in the hope that it would remain divided when under attack, would be disappointed.

He said the move towards greater and greater repression came from the extremely serious structural crisis of capitalism and the serious crisis of social and economic relations within the This had not only led to the growth of political repression, but the rise of the forces of the extreme right - witnessed in its most vırulent form ın Italy, with the development of a large 'neofascist' movement.

Part of the repression was to use splits within the working class to isolate militants and workers in struggle and then using the state against them.

We had seen this in the Soar Eire case, where hysteria _over the IRA had been whipped up, and also in a strike of coloured workers in Newport, where raids had been launched against militants allegedly in search of 'illegal immigrants'.

'An essential part of this repression is to probe how much the working class will tolerate from the organs of the state, the police, the judges, etc., said Tariq Ali.

"The central aim eventually is inflict a defeat on the workA section of the 800-strong audience which packed the Conway Hall, London, on Monday to hear IMG, IS and SLL speakers. ing-class movement and to try and change the balance of forces to increase the rate of exploitation and surplus value which has halved over recent years, he said.

"This meeting is extremely imberant. It has brought a numorganizations together, but this should only be a beginning. We should join with the working class in joint action against the agents of repression.

'We shall show that our forces, small though they may be, can lead to big developments in the working-class movement in the struggle system against the capitalist In the discussion after the speakers appeals for solidarity with groups of people already facing jail or trial for their political activities were made. Jim Kemp, a spokesman for the Militant group and a member of the London Joint Sites Committee, called for a maximum turn out on April 25 in defence of the building workers on trial at Shrewsbury for picketing. He said coaches were leaving London at 6 a.m., Charing Cross Embankment.

'Let us make this defence a basic right the first step forcing this government sign he said: Sovernment to reOther appeals were heard to defend the Belfast ten - the people arrested after the recent London bomb explosions. (See page 3.)

The speaker said a solidarity picket was held outside Brixton jail, London, every Saturday at Another speaker announced • a demonstration in support of the Stoke Newington Four-jailed in the 'Angry Brigade Trial'-on May 12 at Lincoln's Inn Fields, A collection of £73.73 was raised for the cost of the meeting.