To end this calculated assault on youth Mods and Rockers must unite to

INDER the guise of La campaign against lawlessness and violence, the employing class are subjecting youth to an all-out offensive from police, judges, the press and politicians.

Intimidated by large forces of police and dogs and threatened with fire hoses, this youth is then heavily fined or sentenced to terms of detention out of all proportion to the charges against them.

Quite apart from this, the Margate events were dealt with without any pretence of the much-vaunted British justice.

With the experience of Clacton behind them, every capitalist newspaper and every magistrate making public statements advocates the maximum penalty, without any consideration of the course taken by justice. Did someone say 'every man is innocent until proved guilty?

Cover

" Beneath the cover of the great campaign against youth, the consolidation of the arbitrary and uncontrolled power of the state machine goes ahead.

There are pay increases for police, the power under the Police Act is centralised and various additions are made to the Emergency powers of the Cabinet. These powers have been sneaked through Parliament in the last few months without a single division by the Parliamentary Labour Party,, Agitation against the so-called vandalism and violence of the youth must be seen as part of the , campaign by British capitalism to divide the working class, obscure the real issues before the General Election and destroy the labour movement.

Atmosphere

An atmosphere is being whipped up in which the electors will be convinced that all other problems are less important than that of "wild' and 'lawless' youth. Brooke: more power for police the Tories attention of the working class from the problems of teenage unemployment and dead-end jobs, from the threat to all jobs by automation and from the threatened wage freeze.

The campaign begun at Easter over the Clacton events, will continue right through the SUmmer.

The middle class and respectably inclined working class will emerge, at the election, it is hoped, in support of the Tories, clear out who have shown themselves able to deal firmly with these young 'vandals' who disturb holidays and Sunday afternoon drives.

The loss of confidence caused by the revelations of the Profumo-Keeler affair, which Macmillan and everyone else was anxious to forget, will be restöred.

The working class movement must immediately reply to this attack.

Many individual me: 'I sent bombers to Y women will naturally hestitate to defend the youth at first, because Wilson and the Labour leadership offer no alternative to the second. class sensationalism of the press. The only alternative is a political alternative of struggle against Toryism. It is an old working class saying that 'if the bosses take sides on a question we know we must line up on the other side. of the working class they must, above all, prevent that class from being united behind a Marxist leadership. Their attack on the youth is an attempt to split the working class — the young workers from the old.

Real enemy

In last week's Newsletter, we called on all 'Mods' and 'Rockers' to join with the Socialist Labour League and fight against the real enemy of the youth-British imperialism.

We mean every word of that. From the youth will come the most active fighters for British socialism.

Trade unionists and older workers must welcome the youth as comrades in the fight.

We in the Socialist Labour League have always insisted, particularly in the campaign on youth unemployment, that the primary necessity is a relationship between youth and the labour movement.

Failed

The official Labour Party and the trade unions have failed to adopt a fighting responsibility on this question. On the contrary, they have shown a great fear of youth, devoting their full-time officers to inquiries, interrogations and witch-hunts instead of campaigning among the youth.

All over the country, local Labour bureaucrats have followed the official line and opposed the recruitment and ExTRAISA Y CON LA REVOLUCION •PATRIA Muct MUEST FIDEL some there are now two, oi mano In anma auntrian tha In some countries the CP has a good deal of influence in student and intellectual circles and among the organised workers. There has never been much room for parties of the Social-Democratic type. The main rivals for influence over the working class have been the movements sponsored by men like Vargas and Peron.

Basis

The real basis of Communist strength lies in the attractive power of the Russian revolution — now rivalled by that of Chinaand more precisely in the existence of an old and seasoned apparatus broken to all the stratagems mad: necessary by holding to the Moscow line.

It is men from this apparatus who could work with Batista or Vargas and quickly adjust themselves to Castro. In some countries they are able to entertain relations with bourgeois politicians of various hues, when it is mutually advantageous The Communist Parties set out to organise and discipline the working class, peasants and intellectuals.

The theoretical line of the party is pre-determined. It represents in each country an application of the principles embodied in the

Alternative

The alternative is clear: the Tories will take advantage of the isolation of the youth and drive them deeper into frustration and bitterness.

In these conditions youth will become the prey of bands of fascist thugs who will have to carry out the next phase of capitalist strategy.

Margate, Brighton, Clactonand the incidents yet to comeare therefore very important political issues.

Lenin once said: 'There is among us a sort of idiotic philistine, spineless fear of young people.

I implore you combat fear with all your might.?

Spineless

On this question the Tories take the initiative against the spineless Wilson just as they have done on every other question. When Home proudly announces-as if he had just shot another pheasant-that he personally ordered the bombings in the Yemen, Wilson can only respond with a pledge of support for the government.

On May Day, Wilson insulted the working class internationally by saying it is time to 'get tough' in Cyprus. In the evenings he spends his time making pledges -to ICI, to the Building Societies, indeed, to the very people who are exploiting the working class and the middle class.

Tailing behind the Tories, on the pretext of capturing RTECALEGION Congresses of the Communist rary or me soviet munict Dout of than Graint Union since 1956 and the Declaration of the 81 Communist Parties.

This imposes on the parties the need to emphasise the possibility of a "peaceful road' to socialism in Latin America. This in turn is subordinated to another principle: that the coming revolution will be of a 'national democratic' character, i.e., not be a working class, socialist revolution.

This means that an alliance has to be sought with 'definite sections of the national bour geoisie' in order to establish a 'state of national democracy.

Alliances

It is never clear who members of the anti-imperialist 'national bourgeoisie' are Im practice they seem to be whoever the CP leaders choose to work with at the given moment, or who are prepared to accept CP support. This inevitably leads to some curious alliances.

Even before the Sino-Soviet dispute, the contradictions in the CP line, as applied to the explosive situation in many Latin American countries, caused dissatisfaction or even open splits.

"The government which thi› revolution will place in power,' states a Chilean Communist, "will be a people's vote, Wilson presents a grave danger to the labour movement.

In the recent by-elections the Tories began to win back those voters who had left them for the Liberals in the last few years.

Unless a firm working class leadership is given to these middle class elements they will revert to the pole of ruling class strength at the General Election.

The Tories are using working class youth to frighten the middle class back to the fold.

Wilson's weakness and refusal to mobilise the working class youth for socialism is the greatest possible help to the Tories.

It has long been accepted that in Britain we face the oldest, most cunning and experienced ruling class in the world. Its greatest skill is infiltrating the leadership of the working class in order to divide it. But it is also the most brutal ruling class in the world, whenever the need arises.

Hypocrites

When the hypocrites of press, parliament and pulpit compare modern youth with those of yesterday they conveniently ignore the fact that millions of this youth were sent by the ruling class to the most horrible and violent death in two world wars.

There is only one answer. The ruling class would like to divide the youth from the rest of the working class and also divide the youth themselves between "Mods' and 'Rockers'. We fight for the unity of all young workers with the whole labour movement against the state, police and the capitalist system.

Arm Above all young workers should join the Socialist Labour League.

Only by building the League to lead the working class can we abolish capitalism. It is the capitalist system which creates the frustration and protest of youth and prepares them for disillusionment and destruction.

Youth must arm itself with socialist theory and organisation to destroy the capitalist system. government of the anti-imperialist coannon represent- immensinliot manlitina ing all the parties which have assisted in its formation, and in resolving the major questions of the day it will be guided by the unanimity principle' In other words, a popular front government whose policy will be determined by the most moderate wing: the national bourgeois.

As for the question of the old state apparatus, bureau. cracy, police and army, that is usually given no consideration Patriotism Such a policy, moreover, sees each Latin American country as a separate entity instead of stressing the common interests of the workers and peasants of the entire continent. Thus Communists talk about 'the national interest of Argentine' or 'Panamanian patriotism'.

The experiences of the Castro-type movements and of Latin American Stalinism are rich in lessons which will be studied by those striving to give Marxist leadership in the struggles which lie ahead Only parties based on the Transitional Programme of the Fourth International can and will ultimately free the Latin American peoples and sweep imperialism and native capitalism into the limbo of a tragic and barbarous past.