Not only will the election of a Labour government lift the air of gloom over the working class, it will also release the class from the arguments of their union leaders over the last decade that any struggle would damage the chances of a Labour victory. It will begin to show the limitations of Labour in goverment and allow socialists the scope to put forward alternative policies to a much wider audience than has been possible in the recent past. Although Blair can expect a certain "honeymoon" period while he is given the benefit of the doubt, struggles will develop against a Labour government from those expecting it to reverse the actions of the Tories. Those who rule out support for Labour in the election rule out, or refuse to relate, to such crucial developments. * lished networks of class struggle Abortion: our rights postponed again fighters in Scotland, Manchester and Kent. At least 14 candidates are likely to stand, mainly in Scotland and including Tommy Sheridan in Glasgow. The Scottish Socialist Alliance (SSA) is the strongest. It has broad support from the trade union and social movements, and produces a monthly journal, Red Socialist Party
As Militant Labour, it campaigned for an open, pluralist basis for the SLP, but was denied access to the new part. It then renamed itself as the Socialist Party,' to become the party it wanted the SLP to be
The SP supports the European Marches Against Unemployment. Their weekly newspaper is now called The Socialist. Scottish SP supporters are in the Scottish Socialist Alliance. * Socialist Labour Party
Formed by miners union leader Arthur Scargill. The party also has the support of many members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union's national executive committee. The SLP has around 5,000 members, and won 5.4% in the vote in the former mining area of Hemsworth. It publishes Socialist." Criticised for being too 'anti-Labour' rather than positive in its propaganda, the SLP needs to be drawn into broader struggles during the election campaign and beyond. * Note 1. Not to be confused with the (minuscule) Socialist Party of Great Britain. 6 International Viewpoint
In February the Portuguese Parliament rejected, by one vote, a proposal to make abortion on demand legal until the 12th week of pregnancy.!
Abortion is only legally possible in cases of rape (up to 12 weeks), where the mother's life is in danger, or there is a danger of severe handicap to the baby (up to 24 weeks).<
Once again, women's right to choose has been denied, in a country where at least 16,000 illegal abortions are performed every year, and where abortion complications are the second largest cause of death for women of childbearing age.
All but three of the MPs from Portugal's right-wing parties voted against the liberalisation. They were joined by 14 MPs from the ruling Socialist Party, led by Prime Minister António Guterres, a member of the Catholic fundamentalist society Opus Dei.
The Catholic Church campaigned against liberalisation, but, unlike previous parliamentary debates on abortion. did not run massive mobilisations of its supporters in the streets. Their main weapon was their influence in the government, probably greater than at any time since the fascist dictatorship was overturned in 1974.
The Socialist Party has an identity crisis. On the one hand the Prime Minister, on the other, a "historic" wing which defends the anti-clerical tradition (but is influenced by free-masonry!).
Once again, the absence of a real women's movement in Portugal made itself sorely felt. Feminism has never had a strong presence here, but in 1979 the small women's movement launched the dynamic National Campaign for Abortion and Contraception. This provoked a real, broad debate in society. One taboo was broken when over 2,000 women signed a petition declaring that they had each had at least one illegal abortion.
The collective women's response this time was much weaker. Apart from women members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR),^ few groups were involved in any extra-parliamentary mobilisation. The lesson is easy to learn: without women's mobilisations, abortion rights will always be postponed, and our rights will never be guaranteed. *
Alda Sousa Notes 1. By 112 votes to 111. See last month's "Portugal: abortion still restricted," (International Viewpoint #286, p.11). The proposal was presented by Sérgio Sousa Pinto of the Young Socialists. A similar proposal, presented by Odete Santos of the Communist Party, was also refused, by a larger majority. 2. This reflects the only change to the 1984 law which was approved on 20 February. Strecht Monteiro, an obstetrician and MP for the Socialist Party, successfully presented an amendment which extended to 24 weeks the deadline for abortions where the mother's life is in danger, or there is a danger of severe handicap to the baby. 3. In 1982 the Communist Party made the first ever parliamentary proposal to liberalise abortion law. It was defeated. The current legislation dates from 1984. 4. Portuguese section of the Fourth International.