A new Stalin bootlicker takes the field

of Trotskyism took his bow last Friday in the Stalinist 'Morning Star. His name should be noted by all our readers. It is Mick Costello, ex-leader of the Young Communist League and now a Stalin-trained man working for the Stalinist press.

Costello is a man in a hurry, anxious to win his Stalinist spurs. Writing in last Friday's 'Morning Star' on the recent National Union of Students conference, Costello remarks:

here was almost nothing in tne conrerence or une some sterile Dallit Inalused ) be the order of the da etween those who wanted t consider discuss And prital issues without link between the show the ink between the two "The only abstract philosophers of this kind were a

tiny minority (perhaps half a dozen) ( supporters of the League. They received no sup port from delegates who took seriously mandates from their local organizations.' NONSENSE Who is Costello trying to fool with this nonsense? Can it be his own Party members, several hundred of whom attended their recent Party Congress, buying the Workers Press on their way in and reading our reports of its proceedings the next day?

Whatever they may think of the League politically, these Communist Party members know that a movement able to launch successfully its own national daily paper has nothing in common with 'abstract Once again we must ask: Who is Costello trying to impress? Is he the latest in succession of Stalinist journal. ists whose speciality has been the slandering and distortion of the policies of the Trotskyist movement?

facilities Contes orderly bangle he pamphlet Assistant Editor Vlillall. Wainwright.

This attack written 1942 1rotskvism.

ana never repudiated d by the uthor ollowing advice to its readers.

Expose every Trotsky Show come into contact with. other where his ideas are leading. Treat him as you would an open Nazi?

This unrepentant Stalinis now assists in the politic ist deed by his latest journal- training of Costello effort, sponding tuition. many times before, the Britisl we have pointed Ciberaunist arty adopts • dosen to the Labout efts and, in tha finar burys through the Labour acy, to the British ruli class.

to Trotskyism remains. old hostility SOLE ATTACK This is brought out SO clearly in the case of Costello.

The Socialist Labour League is the only organization that he attacks in the whole of his article. For JackStraw, the new reformist NUS president, he has nothing but gushing praise :

'Mr Straw's words correctly measured the mood of the students. Students will expect that a clear-cut action programme will be carried out, notwithstanding the anachronism of still having a majority on the union's executive committee which fought against many of the policies that were decided upon.

Then comes the attack, not on this unnamed majority, but the Socialist Labour League!

This is the essence of Stalinism. Hiding • behind phrases about 'ultra-leftism' and . 'abstract philosophers', it draws closer and closer to not only right-wing reformists elements, as represented by Straw, but openly capitalist organizations, such as the young Liberals, with whom the Stalinists joined forces three years ago to form their 'Radical Student Alliance Costello follows in the footsteps of not only Wainwright, but younger Stalinist prospects like Monty Johnstone, who combines ultra-reformism with a steady stream of slander against the Fourth International and the Socialist Labour League.

Costello also, no doubt, draws on the experienqe of Fergus Nicolson in matters relating to 'ultra-leftism' amongst students.

By Robert Black Nicolson's first job when he became National Student Organizer of the Communist Party in 1962 was to close down entire branches of students and initiate a witchhunt that led to scores of expulsions throughout Britain.

Johnstone's role in this parfice of loyal of tosition to ticular affair was to play the Stalinist leadership, hoping to win the confidence of critical students by his frequent references to 'that lot in King Street'. many stadents developed from He talled miserably, and many students deveropea Trom critical position towards Trotskyism and the Socialist Labour League.

Now, at a new and entirely more profound stage crisis of British Stalinism, the development of the Socialist Labour League finds these same people playing a leading role in the fight against CUT NO ICE The tricks that they have learned from their old-guard Stalinist tutors are faithfully reproduced by Johnstone, Costello, Nicolson and company, but they cut very little ice with the politicall more serious and princioled Communist Party members.

Take, for example, George Matthew's demagogic admission at the Party Congress that he 'suspended his critical faculties' during the Stalin era.

Coming from a long-established and leading member of the Party, this was a highlysignificant statement, if indeed it was meant seriously and not 'for the record'.

We took Matthews at his word, and gave prominence to his statement in our report of the Congress.

But Matthews is not only a member of the Communist Party National Executive, but the Editor of the 'Morning Star', and it was in this latter capacity that he presumably saw fit to exclude his admission from the report of his speech made in the Monday edition of the paper.

One 'self-critical' face for his own members within the confines of the Congress, another 'orthodox' face for the readers of the paper that he edits. This is Stalinist double book-keeping at its most dishonest.

BLATANT

It seems that Costello learning the same method.

When we come to his treatment of the student movement, his opportunism becomes blatant.

Costello creates the illusion that students can contribute to the struggle of the working class from the outside, as student radicals, in which all students of goodwill take up a umber of 'good causes' and protest about them for all they are worth. 6.45 7.10 Wainwright: The 'Morning Star assistant editor, well versed in anti-Trotskyism.

This leads inevitably to a missionary approach to the working class :

"The inequalities of capitalist society were recognized, [on this basis, millionaires can all become allies] and broad terms of reference were given to the executive committee to take up in a campaigning fashion some of the more blatant of these.

'In coming months we should see the students officially giving backing to squatters, tenants' associations, taking militant action over extortionate rates, housing conditions and lack of facilities' The NUS in other words is to become, if Costello and Nicolson have their way, a glorified protest movement for patronizing the working class and confusing those students who want to take part actively in the struggle against capitalism.

The hostility of Costello to le Socialist Labour League omes from Stalinism's hatred for revolutionary the working class.

Costello writes of the working class as if it needed the 'good works' of the NUS to overcome the excesses of 'capitalist inequality'.

Middle-class radicals have been protesting about the inequalities of capitalism for generations, while at the same time not missing the opportunity to enjoy the privileges that this inequality brings.

Unlike the various charity activities lined up for the next year, the fight on grants and student rights demands firm and principled leadership.

Education at all levels is coming under attack from the ruling class, and the Stalinist alliance with Straw and the Liberals reflects their refusal to face up to the political implications of this fight.

We do not intend to run away from the fight on student grants.

Costello's cheap gibe about 'abstract philosophers' is a cover for his own Party's retreat from positive action to defend and improve student conditions.

The Socialist Labour League and the Young Socialists gives 100 per cent support to students who come under attack from the government, local or college authorities on questions of student rights and conditions.

The Stalinists are preparing to evade that fight.

If the NUS is to play its part in the struggle against the Labour government and its probable Tory successors, students will have to be won to socialist policies to meet the crisis in education.

struggle aneanst the tall of politics represented by Costello and company.

They are only interested in winning their Stalinist spurs by slandering and discrediting the Socialist Labour League.

We can assure them that they are going to be disappointed.