SAP congress says "Jobs not bombs"
ruling Social Democratic Party (SP) despite the link up be-
As the symbol of the Fourth International flashed up on tween the SDP and the bourgeois Left Radical Party. The SF, a the television screen, the news announcer told millions of left social democratic party, has started to develop a growing
Danish viewers the results of the conference of the Socialist left wing which spoke against the policies of the party leader-
Workers Party (Socialistisk Arbejdersparti-SAP).
Despite its small size (150 members) the SAP has won in- One important step towards the unity of the left parties creasing prominence and a widening audience for its in action took place on May Day when a joint mobilization by through the collection of the 25,000 signatures necessary to se- the SAP, VS, and SF brought out 50,000 marchers in Copenhagen and 20,000 in Aarhas.
The chief message that the SAP members will be pro- The SAP also decided to step up its participation in the moting both in their electoral campaign and in industry (30 per peace movement. The Conference approved the general line of cent of the organisation are in basic industry) is that there a recent United Secretariat resolution on peace and socialism as should be unity in action with the left workers parties against the basis of their work.
the anti-working class policies of the minority social democratic found in Intercontinental Press, February 8, 1982.)
Building the youth organization in solidarity with the
The goal of this fight should be for a workers government SAP, the Young Socialist Groups (Socialistik Ungdoms Foreninof all the workers parties represented in parliament through a ger SUF) will be a central aspect of the party's peace work. Albreak with the bourgeois parties and the adoption of an anti- ready the SUF has played a leading role in the organization of rock against Reagan' events timed to coincide with the Ameri-
The SAP conference took place at the same time as the can President's visit in June.
conferences of the two major left workers parties, the Socialist Peace work in the work places will also be a central theme
Peoples Party (SF) and the Left Socialists (VS). of the SAP's work in fighting to link the struggle against austerigeneral election, decided to give conditional support to the The SF, which won 12 per cent of the vote in the recent the SAP in the next period will be: "Jobs and Education, not ty with the struggle for peace. For this reason, a key slogan for by Steve POTTER cure the party electoral rights.
government.
capitalist action programme.
SAP CALLS FOR UNITY IN
ACTION AGAINST AUSTERITY
AND THE WAR THREAT
Following the massive united
May Day marches, the SF and VS to join in forming a united front that could mobilize Danish working people against the government's austerity program and the offensive of the capital-
This proposal was the focus of
Soren Sondergaard's speech opening the SAP congress.
"The SF and VS should join in such a front not for the sake of the SAP but for the workers, who otherwise are going to have to pay the bill....
"The workers parties should break with the bourgeois parties and work out a policy for the workers
"The SAP thinks that with such a policy something could be done here and now against the drop in real wages, joblessness, and increased armament....
"We need full and automatic cost- of-living adjustments. We need a real tax reform, which would impose sharply progressive levies on all incomes above the average worker's
"We need workers control over the companies' accounts. We need a stop to overwork, a 35-hour work week with no cut in wages and a policy of creating jobs through public production and increasing
"We need a stop to layoffs and
We need to nationalize all key sectors of the economy.
Bombs and Missiles!' "We need to stop the arms race, stop the siting of 572 new nuclear missiles, and get rid of the NATO bases and arms depots in Denmark.
"That is what a socialist policy For us it is no dream. For us, socialism is only our daily work. For us, socialism is the inevitable result of the struggle to keep the workers from bearing the burden of the economic crisis and being exposed to the threat of nuclear that we are not about to see the end of the crisis that started ten years ago. It
"The drop in the workers' real wages and Thatcher's war are only omens of greater threats ahead.
"For the student rebels of the 1960s, the boom offered the policy of good jobs, rising living standards, and individual solutions.
"Such possibilities no longer exist. The youth, the jobless, and the workers everything to win and nothing to In the May 13 issue of the SAP weekly paper, Klassekampen, Kurt Sorensen outlined the program and activities projected by the congress.
The center of a united campaign for the upcoming national contract negotiations should be the demand for a 35-hour week without any cut in wages or speed-up and the demand for full compensation
(The text of this resolution can be of increases in the cost of living.
A way to advance now is to set up open contract committees in the workplaces, in which everyone can participate, in order to assure that the union leaderships will maintain the de-
SAP members will concentrate on getting the workers organizations to join in the campaign against increased armament. The rapidly growing peace movement can be reinforced by peace committees in the workplaces and unions.
The peace movement was a central question in the three-month-long discussion that preceded the congress....
An immediate task is to mobilize for the demonstrations that will be held throughout Europe when President Reagan comes here in June.
Contingents are also being organized to go to Bonn to take part in the demonstration there.
A powerful upswing in the struggles of youth have been seen in the last year. In that period also, on the basis of experience of these struggles, Young Socialist groups were stabilized in a number of
Young members of the SAP took the initiative to set up the Young Socialist groups. And the Third Congress of the SAP voted to give increased support to building a socialist youth organization on
The SAP will also continue its work in the antinuclear power committees and the Committees for Solidarity with Soli-