Are strikes subversive

This awful logic of the SIS which makes the struggle for a basic human right an object of scrutiny is vindicated by the actual working of the definition of "subversion" in the Act which created the SIS as a separate Department in 1969. Actions need to meet to two criteria to qualify as subversive. They must first be illegal and they must secondly undermine "the authority of the state". Today a political strike against the Government is immediately "subversive" as it is firstly illegal and secondly it is intended to change Government policy—which is undermining "the authority of the state".

The current Amendments also add "terrorism" to the list of evils the SIS is to defend us from. Already the Prime Minister has checked up and found out that strike action can be included under the definition of "terrorism" proposed in the Amendment. The legal justification of (the SIS) spying on and practising dirty tricks within the trade union movement will be further consolidated by the Amendments currently before the House.

In the past the SIS has used this legal basis for spying within the union movement to openly intervene in internal union debates. The SIS supplied files to F.P. Walsh so that he could smear and defeat his opponents within the union movement. The SIS has consistently tapped the phones of trade unionists and in some cases searched their homes. It would be highly unlikely that they would not have some members of the movement currently on their payroll to supply information and disrupt unity.

The trade unions have been one of the SIS's main areas of concern but the broad definition of "subversion" and the unaccountability of their actions have allowed them to delve into two other major areas internally—the left of the political spectrum and the universities.

Groups from the Labour Party on leftwards have received the scrutiny and often the dirty tricks of the SIS. A recent Values Party meeting had an SIS agent present. There is widespread belief that the SIS leaked information to Truth over the 'think tank' affair. The Communist Party was defined as the Service's "main target" by its then Director, Brigadier Gilbert, in 1966.