'NAE PASARAN!' – and the Labour Government

Review by Chris Draper

I’VE just watched the film “NAE PASARAN!”, the story of how some Scottish workers disrupted Pinochet’s fascist regime and would urge you to catch it when it arrives in your area.  If it’s not being shown in your town then persuade your community group, union branch or political friends to organise a screening – you won’t be disappointed.  In September 1973 Pinochet, backed by the CIA, seized power in Chile and established a dictatorship with concentration camps, torture and mass murder.  Condemnation of the coup was immediate, worldwide and included many who may not have supported the system destroyed by Pinochet yet were appalled by the barbarity of his regime.

'Nae Pasaran!' tells the story of how workers at an East Kilbride factory in 1974 refused to handle aero engines sent by Pinochet’s airforce for repair and servicing.  Their action infuriated the regime but gave hope to Pinochet’s opponents.  'Nae Pasaran!' movingly reveals the personal stories of four men, one now dead and three very old, who initiated the action. One of the four, Bob Foulton was a church elder who started the ball rolling by refusing to handle the Chilean engines on humanitarian grounds.  To me the key underlying theme of the movie is the importance of direct action rather than Parliamentary politics.  The men refused to do what they considered wrong didn’t just write to their MP or await union instructions, they acted first and sought support afterwards.  It’s just as well as they received scant support from the Labour Government and although this isn’t a central concern of the film 'Nae Pasaran!' prompts politically-inclined viewers to reflect on this issue and it’s worth examining the facts.

At the time of Pinochets’s September 1973 coup Ted Heath’s Tories were in power but within months (February 1974) Harold Wilson’s Labour Government was elected and was in office when the East Kilbride workers began their action (March 1974). Besides the eight aero engines, Pinochet’s regime was also anxiously awaiting other vital military supplies from Britain including two frigates, two submarines and a refitted destroyer.  To the absolute shock, surprise and disgust of loyal Labour supporters, in April Wilson’s newly elected government announced it would honour all existing Chilean military contracts!

Rather than adding strength and legitimacy to the action of the East Kilbride workers the Labour Government did precisely the opposite.  It successfully leant on the national leadership of the AUEW union to direct the workers to handle the engines (the men only partly complied). As the film describes, the engines were eventually returned to Chile through subterfuge and likely Labour government collusion. It is not mentioned in the film but the 1974-1979 Labour government refused to isolate the Pinochet regime.  Minister Michael Meacher met a delegation led by the Chile Solidarity Campaign and informed them that he would not impose a trade embargo as it might harm British jobs and business.  In fact between 1974-79 British investments in Chile more than doubled from £13m to £28m.  Although the government did permit entry to Britain by some refuges from the Pinochet regime as Labour Home Office Minister Alex Lyon laconically admits in the film, they were first individually screened on the basis of information supplied by the CIA!

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Labour apologists argue that 'next time it will be different'.   It was therefore significant to witness what happened in 1998 when, under another Labour administration Pinochet was held in Britain in response to an International Arrest Warrant charging him with Human Rights Violations, including the murder and the torture of 94 Spanish nationals. Instead of belatedly making amends for Labour’s previous record Jack Straw, the responsible Minister sought every possible opportunity to evade his moral obligations.  After the Law Lords repeatedly ruled Pinochet should stand trial Straw resorted to the dubious device of claiming he was medically unfit.  When Pinochet flew back to Chile, on descending from the plane he mocked Straw’s claim by rising triumphantly from his wheelchair to greet his adoring fascist supporters!

Labour loyalists will inevitably still insist 'next time it will be different' and some find reassurance in Jeremy Corby’s denunciation of Pinochet to a BBC reporter on his 1998 arrest, 'one of the great murderers of the century'.   I would remind such simpletons that Tony Blair derided Thatcher’s administration as 'the Party of Pinochet' while Peter Mandelson called Pinochet 'a brutal dictator' whose claim of immunity was 'gut wrenching'.  Even as Harold Wilson’s newly elected Labour government prepared to sell the 'Nae Pasaran' workers down the river, in Parliament he hypocritically denounced Pinochet’s regime as an 'oppressive fascist government'.  Doesn’t madness reside in doing the same thing time-and-time-again in expectation of a different result?

***********