TGWU: discussing defence

Labour Briefing no. 82, 26 April 1989, p. 13 · printed under the name Bill Peters

Transcribed by hand from the printed page.

For the first time since the 1960s unilateral nuclear disarmament will be a hotly debated subject at June's TGWU Conference.

For over two decades unilateralism has been maintained as an article of faith, going through Conference on the nod.

But New Realism and Kinnock's Policy Review has changed all that. This year there are 80 resolutions on the agenda on unilateralism, just over half of which support the existing policy.

The T&G decision on unilateralism could be crucial to the Policy Review as a whole and there has been an organised campaign by the right wing to change policy.

This has mainly taken the form of a campaign for a ballot on unilateralism. There are 13 resolutions calling for a ballot — an unprecedented proposal which is not provided for under rule.

Despite these resolutions and the pressure on Todd through his Moscow trip to see multilateralism at work in the Gorbachev era, a change of policy still seems unlikely.

But the near unanimous votes of previous years will probably change.