'Impartial' pogroms - C.P. and I.S. demand

chiefs for an end to their repressive measures against the opposition.

He says that 'ordinary people in the West' think the CP's aim is to set up the same type of system as exists in Russia.

The Western CPs deny this, says Galanskov, but people ask :

'Why do we have to believe you? . • Can you demonstrate that Stalinism and Maoism are not a nécessary part of Communist practice? How can you prove that your Italian, French and English Communism would not be a national tragedy for the Italian, French and. English peoples?' Western Communists, says Galanskov, declare that the suppression of democracy in the Soviet Union was only the result of 'difficulties and mistakes'. , and that it is possible to reform the Soviet CP.

He therefore demands that they take up with the Soviet leaders:

• The granting of a complete amnesty to all people imprisoned in the USSR for their political or religious beliefs, and • The réform of Russian policy of suppression of polltical and religious opposition.

If they do not respond to this appeal, says Galanskov, the CPs will be acquiescing in the suppression of democratic freedoms in the Soviet Union.

Galanskov says of western intellectuals:

'During the years of Stalin's dictatorship, they spent more time being surprised at it than opposing it . . . They lacked principles and made political compromises.' On the spot Galanskov's letter puts Gollan and company directly on the spot.

They must bé forced to answer these demands from behind Brezhnev's barbed wire.

While the CP moves further to the right, making a show of and ' democratic' respectability, they remain silent on the key questions of the actions of the Soviet bureaucracy and its The article of Jack Lindsay in 'Marxism Today, which raised the true history of Lenin's last fight, alongside Trotsky, for Stalin's removal, remains unanswered.

The British CP leaders, not THE COMMUNIST Party and the International Socialism group were prominently represented on the Connolly Association's demonstration to Trafalgar Square on Sunday.

Together with contingents from civil rights groups and supporters of the. revisionist journal 'Militant', they made up the bulk of the 1,000 people who took part in the • demonstration.

But with the lack of principle that we have come to expect from these revisionists, both International Socialism and the 'Militant' group fell in completely with the entirely retormist, pro-imperialist policy put forward by the Stalinists at the head of the Connolly Association.

The march provided one more clear indication that the Loture demon oncial leatet advertising the march, was to demand 'action from Britain's new governAs one Connolly Association supporter would put pressure on Hitler if he were in the government here' No objection The Stalinists and their allies at Trafalgar Square, it appears, had no objection to Tory 'law and order'-provided it is applied 'impartially.

In the words of a resolution passed unanimously by the rally which followed the march, measures must be taken 'to ensure that soldiers, police and the administration . of the law, such as it is, are placed in impartial hands' As is well known, the law in N Ireland 'such as it is' includes the Special Powers Act, one of the most comprehensive and Draconian police state laws in the world.

The Stalinists and their revisionist friends confine themselves to begging the Tories to use it 'impartially'.

As Labour MP Arthur Latham put it:

'Let us see the British Army making equally determined searches in the Protestant areas as they have in the Catholic areas.' Bill of Rights The resolution went on to demand 'that the Westminster government introduce a "Bill of Rights" that would write basic freedoms into the constitution of the six counties for as long as they remain under foreign control'.

In other words, the Communist Party and the revisionists now rely on the, Tories to introduce 'civil rights' in Ulster.

This position follows inevitably from the revisionists' opposition to the demand for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of British forces put forward and fought for by

the Socialist Labour League and the Young Socialists.

The IS supported British troops last August on the grounds that they were there to protect the Catholic minority from a pogrom. Now that the troops have taken over as the chief instigators of anti-Catholic pogroms, they begin bleating for 'impartial' application of 'law and order'.

Armed force

These people do not oppose the right of the Tories to repress the Irish workers with armed force.

They merely want an "impartial' repression. To assist in this, Latham demanded that Heath repudiate Paisley and the Ulster Unionists in the parliamentary Tory Party— presumably to aid in reaching impartiality'.

And the revisionists further insult Connolly's memory by participating in this counterrevolutionary charade.

In doing so they aid the Stalinists to mislead and betray the Irish workers.

It proves once again that they are nothing more than an agency of imperialist counter-revolution and must be treated as such.