The Struggle Continues...
Getting Angrier!
Contents
SINCE THE THATCHER GOVERNMENT came to power, we have seen a rapid increase in the power of the repressive organs of the State, with a correspondingly obsessive and paranoid emphasis on perfecting its machinery for `counter-subversion' and `law and order', political euphemisms for the control and elimination of all real, potential, and imaginary dissidents. The increased expenditure on police, prisons and army, the constant surveillance of trade unionists, harassment of investigative journalists, whistleblowers, environmental, ecological and community activists, the extended deployment of the SAS in Northern Ireland with their assassinations of outspoken socialists such as Miriam Daly and probably Noel Little and Ronnie Bunting, the overt terrorising and intimidation of anyone remotely connected with the struggle in Northern Ireland, the emphasis on population control in police training and the increased number of armed police patrolling the streets of Britain, the new picket laws, etc; all these things indicate that the consensus in British politics is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
THE GROWTH IN STATE SECURITY is necessitated by the political and economic policies of the Thatcher government and its supporters. They know only too well that the economic situation is unlikely to improve without a reversal of their policies. This, in turn, is going to lead to large-scale social unrest. There are no workable economic remedies available to them within the monetarist ideology with which they are obsessed. Unemployment will rise steeply, inflation will worsen, more factories and businesses will close down or go bankrupt, apathy and tension will pervade social relationships, the trade union leadership will be unable to restrain the rank-and-file, people will get angrier and more frustrated, and stronger and more desperate forms of control will have to be imposed as the system starts to fail, go hopelessly out of control, and finally collapse altogether.
WHY NOW AND NOT BEFORE? The late sixties and seventies saw a similar period of strident anti-working class hysteria and legislation which led up to the infamous and unsuccessful attempt to control organised labour through the Industrial Relations Bill. This led to the downfall of the Heath government. Having failed to break the labour movement through the courts, the Tories have now turned to a more oblique approach: a deliberate policy of mass unemployment! No doubt the Thatcher clique will be strengthened in their resolve with the election of Reagan, and begin to intensify their policies with each concession made to them.
WE ARE NO VANGUARD, nor do we claim to lead or represent anyone other than ourselves in our resistance to the arrogance of the present government and the misery, frustration and despair created by its selfish and inhuman policies. It is simply that we as individuals are approaching the limits of our tolerance. We see ourselves as an expression of the anger, resistance and hope created by the impending failure of this rapidly polarising society.
IN THE PAST TEN YEARS we have operated mainly in France, Italy, Spain, Germany and North America, and have acquired new skills, expertise, personnel and access to information sources. The more recent actions of Action Directe indicate the strategy and tactics we should employ. As before, there will be no `mindless terror', no deaths, no hijackings, no hostage-taking of innocent bystanders. We have nothing in common with the tactics or policies of the Red Army Faction, Red Brigades, PLO or any other authoritarian group committed to a struggle for power or control of the State at the expense of the man and woman in the street. The social revolution will not be built on the corpses of the old rulers or their functionaries; it can only be built by people taking control of their own lives, asserting their independence, their rejection of the State, of power politics, of authoritarian lifestyles and the competitive values of consumerism forced on us from birth to death.
In fighting these evils we also have positive aspirations. We wish for a self-managed society as the only possible basis on which we can build a more just, equitable and libertarian world for ourselves and our children. The increased power of the State, the aggressive confrontation policies of the Thatcher government, the breakdown of a free collective bargaining and consensus in everyday life, the ever-increasing estrangement of people from the decision-making processes, etc, indicate only one course of action. We must reject and resist this inexorable erosion of our humanity and hopes with whatever means are available to us.
WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT -- DO YOU?
THE ANGRY BRIGADE II
(IRSM)
The Struggle Continues...
Getting Angrier!
Contents