Comment and information provided by Martin Ralph
11 April 2010

In 1982 the Liverpool Trades Council discussed many movements against Thatcher and imperialism and it condemned Thatcher’s war against Argentina. It was a militant body with a long record of supporting the national and international struggles of the working class and oppressed nations. They supported official and unofficial strikes , rent strikes, the struggle against unemployment and cheap youth labour schemes, condemned the Prevention of Terrorism Act (forerunner of today’s anti-terror legislation). In October 1982 it supported the occupation of the Croxteth Comprehensive School. It also supported the Polish Solidarnosc and condemned the Israel invasion in the Lebanon 1983.
In 1982 the executive committee had 21 members. The following information is taken from the minutes of the Liverpool Trades Council, currently held in Liverpool’s reference library.
The following resolution was passed on 8 April 1982
This trades Council condemns the war of the Thatcher government against Argentina – the sailing of the fleet to the Falklands and the sanctions on Argentina – is an imperialist adventure. It is an attempt to maintain a base that was seized from Argentina over 150 years ago.
The policies of this war government are neither concerned with military repression in Argentina nor with the interests of the Falklands population. The Trades Council condemns the jingoistic support of imperialism by the Labour leaders. A victory for Thatcher’s government abroad will mean increased aggression against workers at home. We therefore demand of the Trades Union Council (TUC) and the Labour leadership that they stand by the principle of socialist internationalism with a policy of “Down with the war. Mobilise the working-class to bring down the Tory government”.
An addendum was also carried declaring – we recognize the sovereignty of Argentina over the Falkland islands and call for the recall of the British fleet.
The minutes of the Liverpool trade Council stated that, after a lengthy discussion and after hearing many speakers the resolution and the addendum was carried.

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AUEW No 3 branch 17th June 1982
That in view of the fact that the conflict with Argentina is not in the interests of the British working class and that the Tory government economic and social policy also amounts to a declaration of war on the British working class movement then that Liverpool trades council should call an immediate march and rally against this war.
We request that the trade Council support the call for opposing the war over the Falklands.
This resolution was amended as follows that in view of the fact that the conflict with Argentina is not in the interests of the British working class and that the Tory government economic and social policy also amounts to a declaration of war on the British working class movement. We call on the Liverpool trades Council to convene an immediate conference to discuss the war and its anti-working class nature and to repudiate the jingoism of the media.
The Liverpool Trades Council also agreed to organise demonstration against the war for Saturday 26th June 1982

This article below was written in 1990 and describes the position voted for at the Liverpool Trades Council in April 1982. The full resolution carried in 1982 can be found elsewhere in this archive section. However not every delegate voted for the resolution – the Militant (Socialist Party) abstained.
International Socialist League
April 2010

Socialist Internationalism and the Malvinas, Bill Hunter, 1990

The extracts used here are from an article which was done for the News Line the daily paper of the Workers Revolutionary Party early in May 1982 which gives the position of the Militant on the Malvinas, as they expressed it in Liverpool. The Liverpool Trades Council in its meeting on the last Thursday in April 1 982 carried a resolution that Bill Hunter moved on the Malvinas war condemning the imperialist attack and supporting the right of the Argentine to the islands. At that time Liverpool Trades Council was a powerful body representing metal workers, transport workers, municipal workers, printers, car-workers, miners, etc. The article was a report on the May Day demonstration in Liverpool (Merseyside). The article said that every “principled socialist” must seek “to rouse workers against the imperialist attack on Argentina” and continued:

“The decisive and most important force in Britain today are those workers who will battle in this way. That this force is there is shown, in that important bodies in the Labour movement have already opposed the war. Among them are the Liverpool Trades Council, the Wigan Trades Council, the Lancaster Labour Party, two constituency parties in Plymouth and several trade union branches…. On Merseyside the two sides in the “left” of the Labour Movement have been starkly exposed….

“The two sides were shown in contrast between the resolution carried at the Liverpool Trades Council three weeks ago and the disgraceful performance of the “left wing” at the May Day march and meeting in Liverpool last Saturday.

“….at its meeting of some eighty delegates in April, the Liverpool Trades Council carried a resolution condemning the war and the Jingoism of Labour leaders and supporting the national right of Argentina to the Malvinas, There were no votes against the resolution, although supporters of the Militant abstained, after losing an amendment.

“At this Trades Council, a member of the Socialist Organiser” tendency and also a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party supported the resolution and attacked the Militant tendency. This tendency had sought to divert the opposition to the war with its amendment attacking the Argentine seizure of Malvinas. …”

The article then reported the meeting at the end of the May Day march.

“The first speaker, Tony Mulhearn, Labour parliamentary candidate for Toxteth and long standing member of the Militant tendency delivered a long speech. It was distinguished by his success in ending it without mentioning internationalism and central question of internationalism, and the struggle against the Tor y government – the Malvinas war!”

The following is a principled statement written by the British Workers Revolutionary Party and the Argentine MAS (Movement Towards Socialism) in 1987. British interests in the Malvinas continue to this day they look for and want to exploit oil reserves to continue their robbery from the area. The International Socialist League wholly subscribes to the title and the content of the article written in 1987 – British Imperialism out of the Malvinas.

British Imperialism out of the Malvinas
Workers Press March 14 1987

A NEW chapter in the history of the attacks of British Imperialism against Argentina opened on 1 February 1987. The Thatcher government decided to extend its control over Argentinian waters. It is now enforcing a ‘right’ to dominate seas in a circle of 200 miles around the Malvinas Islands.

The Malvinas islands were stolen from Argentinian in the last century and have been maintained as an imperialist enclave through violence and murder. The islands were taken by an invasion of British troops and through the crushing of a revolt by the Argentinian inhabitants. Their leader, Gaucho Rivero, languished and died in a British jail.
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