Workers Press no. 1001

workers press The new battalions in the state pay law fight

INCORPORATING T

DAILY ORGAN OF

THE TUC's policy document for its special Congress on March 5, published today, contains not an ounce of fight. It delivers the working-class bound and gagged to the Tories. Even if the Congress tacks on a call for a one-day general protest strike, the trade union movement will be left without an answer to the iniquitous pay laws and the Tories' preparations for the corporate state. In the face of the most determined onslaught on democratic rights that the ruling class has ever mounted, the TUC leaders are disarming the trade union with movement this politically worthless

BY ROYSTON BULL

document.

OUR INDUSTRIAL

There is not a word in

CORRESPONDENT

the whole document about the world-wide crisis of the capitalist system. there can be a real thaw in our relations with them.'

Yet the dullest even He went on: We are Tory knows it will shortly looking for genuine under- be transformed into an all- standing by govern- trade between The out war ment of the need to reach America, Japan and the agreement on policies for

EEC.

British industry.' If the working class does Feather spelt out the not act, this trade war will jingoism latent in the in a third inevitably end document. Britain's work- imperialist nuclear war. people are as patriotic and Not only do Feather and responsible as any in the his friends not warn the world.' he claimed of these 'Given the right approach, working class dangers, they pledge their it is always ready to make 'British' for support a a response. economic effort, and give The real response the approval in advance to the working class is willing to way that British capitalists make to Tory depradations the trade can be seen in its readiness should survive war-by import quotas! to take up strike action in defence of basic rights. The theme of the docu- Nowhere is the workers' short, is: Let's ment, in fight back mentioned in the make capitalism work! The only refer- document. the docu- Introducing ence to the great struggles ment at a Press conference, now beginning comes in the said: "There Feather can line: real and lasting be no 'The government's lack inflation until to answer of flexibility may well lead the proposals of the govern- specific industrial sit - to ment and the unions come ations of some gravity! closer together. Instead of organizing this *Let us have a thaw in into strike struggle an force government thinking. Then irresistible political

RATING THE NEWSLETTER

• MONDA'

AN OF THE CENTRAL COMMIT

THESE hospital workers in Manchester are among the new battalions of workers coming into the fight against the Tories' state pay laws. On March 1 their unlons be will staging selective and answering Heath's de- claration of class war, Feather announces: I am sending this report the Prime Minister to sincerely hoping that there will be a positive response.'

Last week, after the TUC General Council went for a talking-to by Heath at Downing Street, Feather said that neither side was seeking a confrontation. Even this feeble docu- ment gives the lie to that rubbish. It describes the Tory government's initial policies as combining 'confronta- tion with the unions on major issues with attempt- ing to undermine the strength of trade unions through the Industrial Relations Act'. The attack on demo- cratic rights has been steadily stepped up as the economic crisis has got worse. But the document states in the next paragraph that an the Chequers talks last autumn 'appeared to rep- MONDAY FEBRUARY 19, 1973 • No 1

COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIS

strikes, overtime bans and work-to-r u l e throughout the National Health Ser- vice. The anger against the pay laws is so fierce that these workers at the Man- chester Royal Infirmary are not satisfied with the roll- resent a genuine attempt to reach a voluntary agree- ment on the whole range of issues affecting inflation'.

This confusion being spread by the TUC leaders is Heath's most powerful weapon. Although inflation has sprung out of capitalism, the document proposes to continue with capitalism in order to cure it. *Any policy on inflation must ensure that the real growth of the economy is fairly shared. Thus, profits increase sufficiently to can finance new investment without the share of the national income The analysis of the cause of inflation borders on ister idiocy. *Inflation has hitherto been analysed in terms of sources of incomewages, profits, taxation, etc. It is perhaps more valid to see it as a result of competing needs for uses of funds, *which determine the use of resources. And the world crisis is given just one sentence in a 44-page report! *There appears to have been, to some degree at least, a transfer of inflation across frontiers, which can in large part be ascribed to the activities of multi- national companies international finance and But the idea of doing something about it is not even mentioned! On the home front, the TUC has finally begun to realize that the pay laws establish *the framework for a permanent system of statutory wage control'. The report puts these 13 • No 1001 4p

OCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

ing Industrial action. They want an all-out national strike among the 270,000 workers. The NHS employees join civil servants, gasmen, rail- waymen, teachers and lorry drivers who are already challenging the pay laws.

words in italics to indicate how sinister it all is. The TUC's answer? *The government must ensure the non-operation of the Industrial Relations Act and statutory control of wages must be removed. Just like that! And they add: "The trade union movement is willing to co-operate in any attempt to find a joint solution to this problem [of inflation] But Feather, Jones, Scan- lon and company, are mis- taken. The working class is NOT willing to have its basic rights and living standards trampled down so that the capitalist system can find a solution to inflation. And if this offensive does not work, the capitalists are already preparing to unleash a new period of fascism in order to try and forestall revolution. The betrayals which led to the triumph of fascism and the defeats of the working class in the 1920s and 1930s are being pre- pared right now with the aid of the reformists and revisionists. This document is part of such preparations. The working class must be on its toes to repudiate any treachery from the special Congress, including one-day protest strikes. Only by building a re- volutionary party of the working class the SLL and the Workers Press-can the trade unions' strength be mobilized to force the n of Tory government to resign by means of a General hese Strike. On March 1 the 52,000 all-out hourly-paid workers of the Ford combine are expected to start strike action support of their pay claim.

• See page 12 for full report of the gasworkers' struggle.

BY DAVID MAUDE

LEADERS of 50,000 Ford workers threw down the gauntlet yesterday to the state pay laws of the Tory govern- ment. Shop stewards from every Ford factory in the country voted almost unani- mously for all-out strike action from March 1. And they demanded that the union leaders give immediate official backing to their action.

At a 500-strong meeting in Coventry. the Ford stewards came together with shop-floor leaders of other sections of workers hit by the pay laws and the policy of the Tories.

Those attending included Bri- tish-Leyland, Vauxhall and Chrysler car workers; teachers; hospital workers; engineering workers from Rolls-Royce: and a delegation from Bryant Colour Printing work-in in London.

The meeting demanded that the union leaders participated in no deals with the Tory govern- ment over its state pay laws.

A resolution pledged its full support to a call that the TUC organize a national day of action Tories' against the attack on free collective bargaining from its March 5 recall conference.

Chairman Bernard Passingham refused to accept an amendment calling for a General Strike to remove the Tories from office.

Nevertheless the fight to re- move the Tories and the question of what kind of Labour govern- should replace them, ment

TURN TO PAGE 11

STARTING TODAY

CENTRE PAGES

Stephen Johns three-part vestigation into the producers, their profits and why prices are rising so rapidly. Be sure of your Workers Press for these informative articles.

Telephone 01-622 7029.

workers press The new battalions in the state pay law fight AT 12223

INCORPORATING T

DAILY ORGAN OF

THE TUC's policy document for its special Congress on March 5, published today, contains not an ounce of fight. It delivers the working-class bound and gagged to the Tories. Even if the Congress tacks on a call for a one-day general protest strike, the trade union movement will be left without an answer to the iniquitous pay laws and the Tories' preparations for the corporate state. In the face of the most determined onslaught on democratic rights that the ruling class has ever mounted, the TUC leaders are disarming the trade with union movement this politically worthless

BY ROYSTON BULL

document.

OUR INDUSTRIAL

There is not a word in

CORRESPONDENT

the whole document about the world-wide crisis of the capitalist system. there can be a real thaw in our relations with them.'

Yet the dullest even He went 'We are on: Tory knows it will shortly looking for genuine under- be transformed into an all- standing by the govern- trade between out war ment of the need to reach America, Japan and the agreement on policies for

EEC.

industry.' British If the working class does Feather spelt the out not act, this trade war will jingoism latent in the in a third inevitably end 'Britain's work- document. imperialist nuclear war. people are as patriotic and Not only do Feather and the responsible as any in the his friends not warn world.' he claimed. of these 'Given the right approach, working class dangers, they pledge their it is always ready to make a response.' for "British' support economic effort, and real response the give The approval in advance to the working class is willing to way that British capitalists make to Tory depradations survive the trade can be seen in its readiness should war-by import quotas! to take up strike action in defence of basic rights. The theme of the docu- Nowhere is the workers' Let's short, is: ment, in fight back mentioned in the make capitalism work! document. The only refer- the • docu- Introducing ence to the great struggles ment at a Press conference, now beginning comes in the said: "There Feather can line: real and lasting be no government's 'The lack inflation until to answer of flexibility may well lead the proposals of the govern- to specific industrial situ- ment and the unions come ations of some gravity! closer together. Instead of organizing this thaw in Let us have a strike struggle into an irresistible government thinking. Then political force

RATING THE NEWSLETTER • MONDA

AN OF THE CENTRAL COMMIT

THESE hospital workers in Manchester are among the new battallons of workers coming into the fight against the Tories' state pay laws. On March 1 their unlons be staging will selective and answering Heath's de- claration of class war, Feather announces: 'I am sending this report of the Prime Minister to sincerely hoping that there will be a positive response.

Last week, after the TUC General Council went for a talking-to by Hcath at Downing Street, Feather said that neither side was seeking a confrontation. Even this feeble docu- ment gives the lie to that rubbish. the Tory It describes government's initial policies as combining "confronta- tion with the unions on major issues with attempt- undermine the ing to strength of trade unions through Industrial Relations Act'. The attack on demo cratic rights has been steadily stepped up as the economic crisis has got WOrSE. But the document states in the next paragraph that an the Chequers talks last autumn "appeared to rep-

COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIS

strikes, overtime bans and work-to-r u l e throughout the National Health against the anger pay laws is so fierce that these workers at the Man- cheater Royal Infirmary are not satisfied with the roll- resent a genuine attempt to reach a voluntary agree- ment on the whole range of issues affecting inflation'.

This confusion being spread by the TUC leaders is Heath's most powerful the weapon. Although inflation has sprung out of capitalism, the document proposes to continue with capitalism in order to cure it. 'Any policy on inflation must ensure that the real growth of the economy is fairly shared. Thus, profits can increase sufficiently to investment finance new without the share of the national income The analysis of the cause of inflation borders on idiocy. has hitherto Inflation been analysed in terms of sources of income-wages, profits, taxation, etc. It is perhaps more valid to see it as a result of competing needs for uses of funds, "which determine the use of resources' And the world crisis is given just one sentence in a 44-page report! 'There appears to have been, to some degree at least, a transfer of inflation across frontiers, which can mpt- in large part be ascribed to the activities of multi- international finance,' and national companies But the idea of doing one something about it is not even mentioned! On the home front, the TUC has finally begun to realize that the pay laws 'the establish framework for a permanent system of statutory wage control". The report puts these Str • 4p • No 1001

OCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

Ing Industrial action. They want an nationai strike among the 270,000 workers. The NHS employees join clvll servants, gasmen, rail- waymen, teachers and lorry drivers who i already are challenging the pay laws.

words in italics to indicate how sinister it all is. The TUC's answer? "The government must ensure the non-operation of rful the industria! Relations Act and statutory control of wages must be removed.' Just like that! And they add: "The trade union movement is willing to co-operate in any attempt to find a joint solution to this problem [of inflation].'

But Feather, Jones, Scan- lon and company, are mis- taken. is The working class NOT willing to have its basic rights and living standards trampled down so that the capitalist system can find a solution to inflation. And if this offensive does not work, the capitalists are already preparing unleash a new period of fascism in order to try and forestall revolution. The betrayals which led to the triumph of fascism the and the defeats of working class in the 1920s and 1930s are being pre- pared right now with the aid of the reformists and revisionists. This document is part of such preparations. The working class must be on its toes to repudiate treachery from the any special Congress, including • one-day protest strikes.

Only by building a re. volutionary party of the working class-the SLL and the Workers Press-can the trade unions' strength be mobilized to force the Tory government to resign by means of a General hese Strike. On March 1 the 52,000 hourty-pald workers of the Ford combine are expected to start strike action support of their pay claim.

• See page 12 for full report of the gasworkers' struggle.

BY DAVID MAUDE

LEADERS of 50,000 Ford workers threw down the gauntlet yesterday to the state pay laws of the Tory govern- ment. Shop stewards from every Ford factory in the country voted almost unani- mously for all-out strike action from March 1. And they demanded that the union leaders give immediate official backing to their action.

At a 500-strong meeting in Coventry, the Ford stewards came together with shop-floor leaders of other sections of workers hit by the laws • pay and the policy of the Tories.

Those attending included Bri- tish-Leyland, Vauxhall and Chrysler car workers; teachers; hospital workers; engineering workers from Rolls-Royce: and a delegation from Bryant Colour Printing work-in in London.

The meeting demanded that the union leaders participated in no deals with the Tory govern- its state pay laws. ment over A resolution pledged its full support to a call that the TUC organize a national day of action Tories' attack against the on free collective bargaining from its March 5 recall conference.

Chairman Bernard Passingham refused to accept an amendment calling for a General Strike to remove the Tories from office.

Nevertheless the fight to re- move the Tories and the question of what kind of Labour govern- Should them, ment replace

TURN TO PAGE 11

STARTING TODAY

CENTRE PAGES

Stephen Johns three-part in- vestigation into the producers, their profits and why prices are rising so rapidly. Bor shee normative a Pries.

Telephone 01-622 7029.

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Monday February 19, 1973 Of Palmer's half-baked 'analysis' course, AFTER IGNORING almost completely the

MUDDLED 'EXPERT

capitalist crisis for is direct v in line with the entire politics growing of the Cliff group. What such a middle- the last tew weeks. the revisionist state. class positively hates that 'Socialist group capitalist has worker capitalism is driven forward through its at last felt obliged to comment on it.

internal conectous W axisu Wilsl an article 'US move to export inflation which Palmer has not the remotest and unemployment. always seen these n duc bccks connection, to explain the latest convulsions in the obiective contradictions as providing the world's money centres.

WHAT WE THINK

basis for the struggle for socialism.

Palmer is the man who, for the.

past ten The root cause of the present CrISIS that the rodss tise for s, of which ose COIA OOTT AM STINCP TRoe CPI СТРОЛ circles group that wnich nis Inna oitS working most class capitalist slump was a thing of the past.

reconcile full tive labour. economy was to e anence tor suci Dro powerul. • are now set volent duction comes either out of taxes, which course with the restriction Spending by the state on arms had given growth and re- enno oncal. econoll imposed their development by wages and profits, or else on lative price stability are caollalsul « more o cos cvel-

TATOUQO

maissive le vica unl lasting there dependence on production for waste- capitalist social relations oi stanilty.

NOT

W2S Inanced

_OUT

ouocer oeneils bLOuuCUn anything new in such a 'theory". It was But this tabacoin uo he erele mat bristare economy. It is tor this reason thai the WOr ng the the Cliff group, that class, led by the revolutionary taken by usually extent arms

UVCL

Nocoyana mA alb 0 CHEs canalivn called end unacknowledged. from American Palmer now has the impudence tell une to Inancca •Ul CUlicIl Lanco, Schachtmanite revisionist T. N.

Vance, readers the permanent arms merely eats his into the avaliable Suro us catace darcv similar conclusions in down the rate friends, the value and thus slows For Palmer and his middle-class came -on which he the leader- cCoony alle capitalism is merely irational: 'Socialists which •of capital acumulation. early 1950s. Ihis was the group nis based eneure Marxism and If out of future taxation, by means of a last week's relecter the cetence or the soviet union win oolnt lo 1939 and split from the Trotskyist fight for budget deficit, this only adds to in- revolutionary party- as turtner eviaence lnat cantasa flationary which have now no longer capable of operating with the pressures 'could never last'. The permanent arms Iv Callul. rationality. This is crisis. how economy', we now learn late For the state capitalists the theory was at

TAIS

CaCaCu 'permanent' after all! The 'expert' Palmer also reveals that his he ends his was not oaleuc atacic. disguise for their complete nour, ahe ses is a million miles away from Capitalism, Palmer, no way 'analysis' in confidence in the permanent existence Even on ns own evel rale s he behaving "irationally' In crisis, realities crisis when of the 'arms economy, is the most utter rubbish. In what sense not behaves more did arms spending constitute 'production writes: A dollar devaluation was forced tact. Ilallci cavita ism. Capitalism was powertul and on the rationaliv than ever. For in such periods only reveals United states in 19/1, but would go on lasting for a very, very Palmer

TO!I

has the US payments gaan produced improvement in its hidden laws of motion break surface long time was what their politics his complete ignorance of Marx's theory and are there for all to see.

off of productive and unproductive labour. amounted to. Just they wrote which Palmer and labour, Marx Here Palmer manages to stand reality on This is . precisely what the productive Soviet oe samoereo coer WOrKIL Cidss allalysllls Palmer and its head! For the Americans deliberately is doing, in a way who had allowed the Russian Revolu- shows LiaT wane ner a CondIL W aN tion to be lost, they said, they wrote 'useful' or not was absolutely beside devalued the part his group no doubt hind most unpleasant dollar •Productive labour' was that trade war against Europe and Japan. For the last 20 years, he and his political working the the point. off the class the mentors capitalist contra dictions elere a thi t ot have telling exchanged directly devaluing, Nixon lowered price Jabour which capitalist countries.

WICH

of all US Given political record as a self- anis tas alte rondes ent r wee.

at one blow. raised Palmer's expoTIs Type o article tea si predenden what the pise od all foe same time steried tne past. Ine mrauauient nature ol such Suvee exoCIt crononuc cuco tuns the value of the bilions of dolars seed time slashed 1 in prac be. it iril demonstration brilliantly demon- or whether the more perceptive Socaiı worken strated in practice. the reader will be somewhat, surprised to an article was produced at all.

political •For 20 years after In this sense, arms production always and troneaal European the hear him government and mauslid. WNC Sl Colol ONynaLeSILy

DIULUUILC.

involves the expenditure of unproduc- institutions. crisis of all the revisionist groups. World War the Alalll Ancucall Kissinger Devaluation of dollar only the beginning Nixon lays down his new sees Mao for two trade war laws hours' talks THE TERMS which the American government in- tends to impose on

BY A FOREIGN

its capitalist competitors 40

CORRESPONDENT

muuloR acres WIlLs ceter

BY FOREIGN EDITOR JOHN SPENCER

CI00s. have emerged with stark When this sr in comes on tie- and Japan to diplomats mae for dumping will be avail-

ACCORDING

clarity from President open their countries to accept a 'reform' of below able for at la1 system which monelar markets to American goods This in Nixon's statements since mne oresenl WOrO orIce would make such reva latons turn will force the to raise as as country and liquidate their ability to taxes to punitive levels in order the 10 per cent dollar opened two surplus on its pay. has

Ш1OVCU

111LU subsidies. tarm mlallltall

ILS

compete. nsents oance. devaluation.

EEC

Nixon has offered the America is also demanding that Europe and are be In return for their Tse- Japan G1C tween the put an end to He and his lieutenants have bludgeoned into accepting Ameri- mantling the common agricul- agricultural policy, their commor he policy, prepared made clear that the devalu- cas cooos tarouza uie imposuor Lulal winco ororecrs curosedı Tamnine tariffs and through enforced Hanen tne worst enecls ol Co mon Market artificiily hithe keeping prices inside revaluations products oil of ice which will the Trade Bill. ation is only the beginning of One envoy was

LACII

OWI

wcolcil of measures a programme The agricultural system inside world markets. Worthless the

EEC

high protected bv designed to force both Europe The US wants to force other have tariff walls which for relations prevented number years and this offer, from wortnless Dut this effect the Amiciical larucs CADUlL- it is an offer the Common Market their surplus produce side world to the people

BOOK YOUR TICKET

will find Nixon's hard Europe. to retuse of China. oromise has lltue vate coecause American will only change slightly the o wa.

FOR EMPIRE POOL NOW

government pays tarmers form which trade will now war would be diploma- an Lake ln ils carly slazs. nol Ils But this Peking before effects on Europe.

LIC

DreSClLe In the unlikely event lalll Europe is spared the direct effec policy, be brought to relations

DEFEND ALL DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

and tariffs its very abrupt end. ot surcharges the us it will stil exports to face the full impact of the Dofond trade unionism and basic living standarde trade offensive which reception Japanese Investments pletel thing from will the Unite in action to make this Tory government resign Iolow InDosIuol exports tariffs Japan's to The road to power is through the building of the revolutionary party ago. America. ntrer s To add to these hammer-blows other words there is no against their competitors, the why should about to American employers are wav our dy necouauon or arrec- Kissinger. completely Dr met between but con- only a ruthless era LaUNC E Go lal flict the main copita istr imperialism, when Nixon removes The final prong Countrics all the existing barriers to Toad astere the visit said Mao 'Nixon's attack is in the feld of

*. SUNDAY MARGH II 3PM

export of capital from the US asked convey capital exports. The Trade Bill now on its The US employers coranned wav Inrouen congress wi em- anticipate •planned power the all tor th of tarins antinst gpose published by mezsrer result whole tariffs goods against sale commercial crashes and the from abroad. Bil could b branches of liquidation of whole avvear mn news memd Is SUnDAY MARCH 11th 3pm used to impose a general taritt Europe economy anc demanded bs lations China against wepul House Japan. Ways and

PAGEANT•RALLY• CONCERT

America Lue DOWCILul Malve Means chairman Wilbur Mills.

Discriminate also Sel discri lna- 1 he Tne sident set the Vietnamese fight- powers under the duties on goods from parti- ers struggle on I would like to' take part in the Pageant/come to Empire Pool.

to Loly lo take luil advantage or inis Please send me further details.

cular countr es sidered notadiy DOHCy LIt situation by buying up bankrupt which are eo onsiche to the USs. the Nixon the light closer exporting industries overseas re- collaboration imperialism.

NAME...

will era of duls dl s lalllls lU

UDCH

11C W move al the exsune contros on TariT. investments of US capital abroad.

Country after retaliates

ADDRESS.

countr. not only against the US, but als Not only will this mean a new

COUNSEL

defending 11 Greek wave dollar imperialism acalosı

COOOS

Dele oumsca other siderls Coreed

WILI

HSURd their markets by victims advantage of u anvestors take the authorities claimed in court of US policy. bargain-basement prices. .. Amount enclosed (£1 each £....

yesterday trial being No. of tickets required Simultaneously Nixon will plans to also destroy much of held climate ot terror and the financial role of opponents Complete form and return to : oulvenze DarlicIs Iclalll. accuse• vonce or bersecumes oe US goods. To destroy the Puronear fence witnesses. After defence Loncon ano omner Pageant Office, 34 Hamilton Gardens, London, NW8 agricultural common policy markets and out a and wipe protests, witnesses, relatives considerable British the

EEC,

Nixon has authorized slice the public memoers wCIC plant an farmers to allowed into court. Buvis oe edmmes al a surore.

FORD INSIST ON SHUT DOWN

Behind the closure of the Rockware Group factory at Greenford in Middle- sex lies the long arm of City financial tycoon, Jim Slater. last During year it was announced in the City pages of the capitalist Press that his giant Slater Walker Securities was buying Rockware shares.

The behind-the-scenes trans- action made little sense to those who turned to the books of the family-owned Rockware Group. What interest could Slater have in making jars and bottles? •But his intervention into Rockware was not based on glass containers, but, inevitably, on real estate. Rockware's Greenford : 35- factory 1s situated on a acre site in the west Middlesex nearby is another area. And land acquisition by Slater-the former premises of the West- land helicopter company. A year ago Slater took over this group, sacked the work force and is now preparing to develop the site. .And he also has the largest single financial slice of Barclay Securities, the asset-stripping group headed by John Bentley.

Bentley is currently preparing to 'rationalize' film production at the Shepperton Studios in Middlesex and use about 40 acres of the film lot for housing development. The Rockware deal, there- fore, must be seen against the background of two other Slater in the property manoeuvres same locality. 33 per Rockware controls cent of the market in glass containers from and apart Greenford, it has factories at Wheatley, Doncaster, near Irvine in Ayrshire, St Helens in Lancashire and Knottingley in Yorkshire. Its subsidiaries are listed as Blewis and Shaw (Plastics), Blewis and Shaw (PVC), Burwell, Reed and Kinghorn and the Birtsall Foundry Com- pany. From these enterprises the company made a trading profit in 1971 of £4.8m, an increase of almost £1.8m on the pre- vious year. Rockware group has The close links with the Tory Party.

The 1970 annual accounts show that £1,000 was given to British United Industrialists, a fund-raising front for the Tory Party, £300 to the right-wing Economic League and £100 to Goole Conservative Associ- ation. In 1971 the same contribu- tions were made to BUI and the Economic League, though the company waived its don- ation to the Goole Tories.

The directors pay themselves in handsome style. The chair- Mr P. Parker, received man, £17,000, which comes to about £350 a week! Another four receive more than £10,000 a year, while a staggering £16,000 was paid to directors simply as compens- ation for leaving the board.

Not a bad golden handshake!

For the Rockware workers, salaries are not nearly SO magnificent. There are 7,753 workers employed by the com- pany and their average pay is and £1,565. For unskilled semi-skilled, of course, wages are much lower. This is some of the back- ground to the financial carve- up which looks like throwing 900 glass workers onto the dole. For further information, one of the key demands of the work force must be a com- plete examination of the com- pany's books.

NOV

AST FU

Union chiefs will make a last-ditch bid within the next two weeks to per- suade the Ford Motor Company not to close its Dagenham blastfurnaces, destroying 450 jobs. The company has said that the furnaces are uneconomical and must be shut down. But the union leaders, who believe the proposed closures are part of Ford's strategy for into the shifting production Market, insist that Common : accept them. they will not action has been Industrial threatened. With all eyes on • the Ford struggle, attention has pay shifted from the somewhat threat to jobs implied by the company's European plans.

While the Tories are trying to whip up a campaign against the gasworkers, emphasizing the suflering to the public, a report out last week revealed that nearly 3,000 old people could die of cold this winter.

But it will not be anything to do with gas. The 3,000 could die in Slough, a town where old people often live in homes in which the temper- ature is no higher than in the street. Secretary of Slough Council of Social Services, Mr Norman Nicholson, said that old people 50p a week heating only get allowance in their supplement- ary benefits. 'That is £1 short of what is needed to heat just one room a week.' A recent 'British Medical Journal' report revealed that one in ten old people could die of cold this winter simply because they haven't enough to keep themselves money warm. The spiralling world capital- ist crisis, however, must once again place the jobs issue right at the centre of the stage.

Batty, William Ford • of Britain chief, recently made much of a planned £130m in- vestment in this country.

Yet, clerical as company workers point out, the most important question is in what ratio this figure lies to invest- ment elsewhere. According to their own estimates, investment in Germany is five times as great, while Ford is also spend- ing f90m in Spain. The broad lines of Ford's strategy seem to be to make the jobs of its 20,000 British workers almost entirely depen- dent on the British market.

Employment, particularly in the car body and paint, trim assembly factories, would inevitably be hard hit under Writings of

WRITHICS OF

Leon Trotsky

LEON TROTSHY

157-38 4838-9)

WRITINGS OF

TEOD

LEON

TROTSKY

1193 - 34 11834-35 Six volumes of Trotsky's writings during the years 1933-1940 £8.00 including postage Please tick those you requir Name Address Complete form and post to: New Park Publications, 18( A New Park Publicati Workers Press, Monday February 19, 1973

PAGE 3

Ford Ford of Britain

MOTOP

COMPANY

MY present conditions. Above: Ford blastfurnacemen. The can itself be the ine company salenat company furnaces are uneconomical and counted as a major contributor must be shut down. to the present crisis. the multinational the Dagenham blastfurnacemen LIKe companies, it has a team whose alone. only function At a meeting last week with currency manipulation to protect Ford union men, including interests. The annual Hector Smith of the Middles- report and accounts for 1971 showed brough-based National Union a net gain of more than f2m of Blastfurnacemen, the com- as a result of devaluations.

pany remained adamant. Ford of Europe Inc- -one oi It insisted' that the biast. continental divisions furnaces, which The nve produce which handle Ford's interests 300,000 tons of pig iron a year world-wide-must have been Ford and serve all plants, the big international alone speculators in recent weeks.

production Ford This is only a small part of Transit vans is to be trans- the problem facing Ford Langley, Bucking- terred trom workers fighting the threat of hamshire, Southampton unemployment. month new £5.5m neXT But it indicates enough of Transit assembly plant at will increase the scale to demonstrate that Southampton its the problem of the blastfurn- from 230 260 capacity aces cannot be answered by vehicles a day.

ANNOUNCING...

RO History of Russian Revolution Trotsky- -a documentary by special gift pack Francis Wyndham and David King • tree volumes £1.70 including postage £1.65 including postage Please tick those you require. Amount enclosed f New Park Publications, 186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG A New Park Publications Booklist is a vailable, free, on request.

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Monday Febru A document drawn up by the Welsh region of the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&GWU) reveals that the Principality's popu- lation grew at half the rate in England and Northern Ireland over the last decade. In these areas it grew by about 6 per cent, but in Wales by only 3.7 per cent. Much of the loss is accounted for by migration not only from rural areas, but from the once populous south-east districts.

And much of this has been caused by redundancies which over the last two years alone have totalled 20,000over twice the average rate for the 1960s. Wales' eastern and central valleys have lost over 20,000 people to migration since 1961.

Since the war 145 collieries slashing labour force 45,000. Over 60,000 of these jobs disappeared in the 1960s.

1971 Between 1964 and numbers employed in metal manufacture dropped from 95,000 to 86,000 and steel is to lose a further 18,000 jobs in the next seven years. The total number of men in employment has contracted steadily. In 1964 the figure was 672,000, 1971 it had but by falien to 603,000. Some 10,000 jobs have dis- appeared in the construction industry since 1966, 7,000 in transport and communications and 11,000 in the distributive trades. In the 1960s some new but small, light industries, mainly food, chemicals and electrical engineering, moved in, pushing up female employ- ment from 305,000 in 1964 to 327,000 in 1971. men chasing There are 12 every vacancy in Wales and four women after every female vacancy. Over 35,000 men and 7,000 women face 3,000 and 2,000 job opportunities respectively.

About 15,000 students are expected to join a massive march and rally in Manchester on Wed- nesday as part of their fight for higher student grants. The students have called for support from local trade union branches. Wednesday's rally is the second stage of their campaign for better grants. Last month most of the student body joined in a rent strike at their halls of residence. The £80 which should have been paid in hall fees for the • has been paid into the term students' union fund. At Man- chester University the central day February 19, 1973

ASSOCI

SAY

The Glasgow Parkhead steel plant of William Beardmore could be closed down with the loss of 1,100 jobs if Dunford and Elliot's bid for Thomas Firth and John Brown goes through. Beardmore's is owned by John Brown and it is the lone survivor of a company which once employed 30,000 men throughout Britain, 20,000 of them in Scotland. It is generally accepted that the Glasgow works would not have survived but for the Firth- Brown takeover. A £1.7m modernization scheme is planned for the Park- fund now stands at €13,000, with a further £2,000 in in- dividual hall funds. Those taking part in Wed- nesday's protest action will include students from further education colleges, polytechnics and other colleges of adult education in the north-west and north Wales, from Man- chester, Salford, Liverpool, Lancaster, Keele and Bangor Universities. Twin marches will set out from Manchester and Salford Universities at 1 p.m. converg- ing on land behind the Man- chester University Institute of Science and Technology. Leaders of the National Union of Students are to meet the Tory government for further talks about grants on February 27.

RIVER DOX WORKERS

SAY

STOP

141l' уток

CLOSURE

NEW STEEL CLOSURE

THREAT IN GLASGOW

head works which is located in one of Glasgow's jobs black- spots on the east side of the Cambuslang, city close to where thousands of jobs are as a result of the to be lost British Steel Corporation's rationalization. But work at Parkhead is duplicated at the Dunford and Elliot works in Sheffield and a successful takeover of Firth- would almost certainly

DLOWI

mean the end of the Glasgow Plant. Mr Arthur Bell, Scottish of officer iron Givisona and Steel Trades Confeder- ation said: 'If bid the takeover successful, then the future of Parkhead is in with jeoparay a strong possibility that all the

POLITICAL PROFILES

rotsky Now available from New Park Publications

TRIVER DON WORKERS

SAY

HEI.P

RIVER

CL River workers protest against Jobs : losses after Firth- Brown bought the heavy forg- ings section from the British Steel Corporation part of their Sheffield modernization plans. workers will lose their jobs.

'If the works close, then the effect on other industries could be considerable with redun- dancies reaching as high as five times the number of persons employed by Beardmore' Firth-Brown has two heavy forges, one in Scotland and the other in Sheffield. Significantly, for the future of the Parkhead firm works, the recently modernized its Sheffield plant and transferred equipment from recently-acquired.

BSC

the the River Don works. By LEON TROTSKY Paperback. £1.00 Illustrated Sharp pen-portraits of leading figures of the Second Interna- tional in Russia and Europe, for •published in the first time an English edition. The translations were first commissioned by the Socialists' 'Keep Young paper Left' Their enormous success has led to the completion of the translation of the whole book, which is the first part of Volume 8 of Leon Trotsky's 'Works' pub- lished in the Soviet Union in 1926. It provides the most vivid picture available of the historic figures of the Second Inter- their and national, strengths weaknesses, written by an obser- ver who was also a participant in the daily struggle of the Euro- pean and Russian working class.

• New Park Publications h Street, London, SW4 7UG Sir Raymond Streat is of Manchester's one "elder statesmen' — a toff who has belonged to all the major local bodies and the right Tory clubs.

He was former chairman of the Manchester Cotton Board and today remains a member of the council of Manchester University. One of his other titles is Commander of the of Orange Order Nassau (Netherlands). Little is known, however, about one of Streat's private investments. It isn't listed in his entry in 'Who's Who', for instance. But it has emerged that he is chairman of a private called Manchester company Crematorium. And a very profitable side- line it is too. The company has 49,328 shares issued, of which the largest holder is one Mrs M. J. C. Piggott, who has 4,444. This obscure little outfit has become the centre of a share- grabbing operation. The man who wants to get into Man- chester Crematorium is Mr W. K. Cottrill, a former local stockbroker who now runs a company called. Norbreck In- vestments of Blackpool. Assets Is Cottrill interested in the burial industry? Not at all. In a letter to the private owners of the crematorium's shares, Cottrill reveals that it is the company's assets which interest him. He has written to the shareholders asking them 64 part with approximately to 2,000 shares in the 83-year-old company. Cottrill said the crematorium profits were probably not much more than those made by 'a good grocer's shop' ' In 1971 it was €17,842 before allowing £8,921 for depreciation £3,867 for tax. The attraction is the asset backing. Take the superin- tendent's house. In 1947 the company's books showed that its value was £2,200. But in 1971 it was valued at only £440. Writing in the finance pages of the 'Manchester Even- , Michael Rimmer News', 1ng said tersely: 'Obviously this is worth much more? Then there is the 4ł-acre site. There could be no ques- tion of building on it, said Rimmer, because 'this is for- bidden in the company's deeds'.

shareholders Whether the will sell to Cottrill remains to be seen. But his interest has invigorating already had an effect on the share price. From 65p to 75p in recent months, they have shot up to 105p.

Someone, somewhere clearly about to make a killing in the crematorium. Share-wise, that is.

EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL

The crisis of the capital- ist system is causing rapid changes in the shape of European in- dustry. Under the auspices of the corporatist Common Market, plans are being laid for a massive rationalization of basic industries which will mean the loss of thousands of jobs. Particularly hard hit will be in the coal and the workers steel industries. As Workers Press has al- ready revealed, certain mono- polist groups are proposing to increase their profitability by a division of labour be- tween German steel and Bri- tish coal. The plan would be to de- velop Germany's steel, but virtually close its coal indus- try, and in Britain close down steel and concentrate on coal.

Further evidence of these dark plans have come to light announcement from with an the continent's biggest steel producer August - Thyssen- Hutte AG. The Thyssen monopolists have made it clear to the Brandt government that they cannot make satisfactory profits if they are obliged to use expensive German coking coal any longer. In future, the company wants to import cheaper coke from abroad. This would mean the closure of a majority of the mines in the giant Ruhr and Saar coal basin, causing huge redundancies among miners. Above. Brandt who announced that he will offer 'long-term a and solid solution'. But what does this mean for the miners?

In recent letters to the Federal Minister of Economics and the Federal Finance Minister,_Thyssen manager-in- Sohl, chief, Hans-Guenther demanded decontrol for the importation of coke. With this he speaks as representative for the whole German steel industry. Thysssen's steel empire be- longed to those firms which supported Hitler's seizure of power in the 1930s. Now it is the biggest steel-producer on the continent. Sohl justified this demand by claiming inability to pay the price for German coal, • 9 which in 1972 was DM78.59 a ton, that is DM10 higher than the price on the world- market, which the foreign steel-competitors pay for their supply of energy. Up to now the German steel industry was forced to buy domestic coal to keep the mines on the Ruhr and Saar going. Above: Workers on strike at Hoesch, During the past three years the crisis of the world mone- tary system and the DM re- valuations rapidly worsened competitiveness of Ruhrkohle, as well as the steel industry. It is no call for cheaper coal and stronger rationaliza- tion comes the very moment when Britain, and with it the British Steel Corporation, en- tered the Common Market on January 1. Unless Thyssen gets a quick government decision, the monopoly is threatening to shift production of raw- materials and semi-manufac- tured goods into foreign countries. Thus Sohl confronts the gov- ernment with the ultimatum to jobs either destroy in the mines or in the steel industry.

State-subsidies for the sup- port of the Ruhrkohle AG, which produces more than 60 per cent of the whole German coal output is regarded by Thyssen as impossible, because 'nobody can • finance them for any length of time. Ruhrkohle's losses in 1972 alone already amounted to Federal DM600-700m. The government holds a special reserve for subsidies amount- ing to DM1,000m to cover them. But to subsidize the company in the coming years would go far beyond this amount. Sohl referred to the second biggest steel-producer, Hoesch, decided, which has already following the fusion with the Dutch steel-trust Hoogovens, to leave the whole purchase of raw materials, including coal, to the Dutch firm which owns US coal mines. Hoesch, the second biggest steel producer in Thyssen has offered to take back his own former mining property from Ruhrkohle, which means that he would shut down the mines himself, if this could ease 'the political decisions concerning coal and energy. The Sohl letter is the de- claration of war by the German capitalists, strengthened by the extended Common Market, on the working class. By destroying more than 100,000 jobs on the Ruhr with the consent of the government, they want to demoralize and weaken the working class, in order to create the conditions for a new attack on its living standards and thus reduce labour costs. Already in the first days of January the Federal Minister of Economics proposed to re- duce the yearly output of pit coal by 40 per cent to 60 million tons. In an interview with the employers' journal 'Wirtschafts- woche' (January 5, 1973), he declared: 'I am not ready to support the dubious advantages of local industry with resources of the state.' This means that if the steel industry finds better conditions in foreign countries, it will go.

The coalition government is clearly turning against the workers when its ministers can remark that one has 'to use the advantage that there are no in the coming elections two years' Brandt announced that he will offer a 'long-term and solid solution' in his declara- tion of government on January 18. But what can a 'solid solution' mean for the miners when he bases himself on the Workers Press, Monde roducer in Germany. defence of the 'social market economy'? lhe jobs in the mining in- dustry cannot be defended under capitalist conditions, as is proved by the Sohl letter.

Brandt will go further to the right and attack the miners, because he believes that capi- talism can be reformed. In a statement on the new development, the chairman of the IG Bergbau und Energie (Trade Union of Mining and Energy), Adolf Schmidt said one should not talk of a crisis of the Ruhr area; it was 'an industrial with centre out- standing local advantages' This right-wing union leader leaves the miners unprepared for the impending sackings.

It was Schmidt, who at the foundation of Ruhrkohle in 1969, agreed to the adjustment plan that has destroyed 25,000 jobs up to now. On January 5 he declared that the union considers a yearly output of 85 million tons as about right, a drop of 15 per cent. This output should be maintained for five years, when the situation could be examined again. This drop will mean the sacking of an- other 30,000 miners. The redundancies are already miners will lose their when coal-pits the two 'Mevissen' and 'Rumeln' in Rheinhausen close down. In accordance with Ruhrkohle's original 'adjustment plan', the pits should be extended. 35, Monday February 19, 1973 PAGE 5 The greater part of the employees will have to look for new jobs themselves if they don't want to put up with travelling for hours to other pits. In Essen on December 20, Heinz employment director Kegel talked of another 20,000 redundancies in 1973. This will hit 12 per cent of the miners in the Ruhr area. For a long time now miners have been kept waiting by promises. After a phase of 'shrinking itself heathy' Ruhr- kohle was supposed to be profitable again. This meant large-scale sackings in the past.

This fraud was ended by a speech of Ruhrkohle boss Kuhnke on December 20, 1972.

He revealed: 'The illusions about "shrinking itself healthy" are gone forever.' Kuhnke demanded more state sub- sidies. The German League of Socialist Workers (LSW) was against the Ruhrkohle adjust- ment plan from the beginning.

It was the only party • which fought for the expropriation i of the without compensation mining and steel industries and for the continuation of pro- on duction under workers control, op and against all sackings.

In talks with the Federal Minister of Economics, on January 11, the managing com- mittee of the miners' union submitted their "policies on energy' The LSW is calling on miners not to allow further closures to take place and to force the union leaders to break off all the capi- collaboration with talists and their ministers, and to defend unconditionally every job in the mining in- dustry.

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Monday February 19, 1973

HOW THE

TORIES ARE

"MUGGING'

THE HIGH ST

SHOPPER

BY STEPHEN JOHNS-PART ONE

decent standard of living is the most basic aim of the working-class The history movement. of class struggle is essen- tially a record of the fight to achieve this important goal. The democratic rights built up by the labour movement are the foundations on which today's living standards al C based—the right to work, the right to strike, welfare, the to shelter right and, all, the right above wages large enough to provide the breadwinner and his family good food to stay alive with and healthy. Only very recent times have these rights, especially the last one, secured by been working class of Britain.

Now, once more, they are in grave jeopardy. Apart from legally stripping the working class of the rights which come from strong trade Tory has launched a direct assault fight freedom „tor on ne higher wages. Pay is. kept down by law. for Those who struggle in- considered law- cicases breakers and face fines and imprisonment. But prices, food prices, particularly allowed to rise. In other words the Tories are attempting to drive down living standards.

This series is of living and investiga- tion of the cost The focus is on prices. of groceries-the wide range goods the housewife can buy modern supermarket- still the biggest item ex- penditure in the working-class accounting for about a budget, third of total expenditure. These articles aim to explode some of the myths about prices and the so-called 'free market' the Tories say is impossible to They control. the produces food, who con- trols its distribution and sale, where the millions spent and by the working class on food end up. Finally the question, organize *how can pro- we duction for the benefit of the majority?' will be answered. The capitalist class, repre- sented by the Tory government, always like people to view a of living' as 'decent standard They present an austracuon. isolated Cale l Vane kind of exchange, handed down to the working class for ser- vices rendered. In fact the living standards of today have only been won through bitter class struggle. The standard of living is a thing. Embodied in it social are all the antagonisms between the working class, which wants greatest possible to keep the day February 19, 1873

ART ONE

proportion of the value it creates in the form of wages, and the capitalist class, which correspondingly seeks to rob workers of as much surplus value as possible in the form of profit. This struggle is never-ending and only recently have workers won the right to even minimum standards (to say nothing of the millions who still live below the poverty line). It is indeed a popular mis- conception that the horrors of starvation and malnutrition were left far behind in the darkest days of the 19th cen- tury. This is not the case.

Only the advent of the wel- fare state after World War II freed the bulk of the working class from the threat of death or deformity through lack of proper food. Half the nation ill-fed In his famous study of the late 1930s, Sir John (now Lord) Boyd Orr found that 4.5 mil- lion people (10 per cent of the nation and 20 per cent of children) had a diet insufficient to keep them healthy. They lacked the all necessary amounts of proteins, fats, calories, calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamins A and C to prevent death or serious ill- ness. A further 9 million were inadequate in all but protein and fat, a further 9 million eat enough minerals did not another 9 and vitamins and million were inadequate calcium. Adding the totals, Boyd Orr found that over half the nation, and the majority of the working ill-fed, judged class, were against even the most mini- mum standards. survey by Dr Another McGonigle showed that the extra expenditure incurred by workers moving from a slum area in Stockton to a modern housing contributed estate directly to an increase in the death rate from 18.75 to 26.71 per 1,000. People spent less on food so they died more rapidly in greater numbers. How close this is to today!

Youth raised on free orange juice and rationed food under the post-war Labour govern- ment are but one generation from rickets, malnutrition and sheer starvation of the 1930s.

It is essential that the standard of living is viewed in this social-historical context of struggle. Only this way can the true evil of the Tory attack be grasped. The government is not just to snatch a few attempting • shillings from the purses, but is trying to throw working- progress into class reverse. Already, for the first time since the days of Boyd Orr and I am confident,' drawled Rippon, that ol McGonigle, the living standards of the working class are be- ginning to drop. The offensive rests on two so-called anti- pillars - the inflationary laws and the deliberate Tory policy of driv- ing food prices up to levels European the capitalist Economic Community. Allied to this is the switch to Value- Added Tax from April 1, which will throw the bulk of the tax burden directly onto the shoulders of the working-class shopper. Characteristically the Tories freeze. there course was, and is, no intention of curbing price rises. Even profits will be allowed to increase All fresh foods are exempt and imported from controls foods allowed to rise are freely in price. Since processed foods are manufactured from fresh home-grown food or imported supplies, and since increases in costs can be re- flected in increased prices, there are no controls on pro- ack cessed groceries either.

In other words, fresh food, ust imported food and processed food can rise in price-this is what the Tories call a 'freeze'.

Under Phase Two even profits will be allowed to increase. Margins can go up and to the rate achieved in the las on, that our food prices will not reach the exce rds best two of the previous five years. In addition the Tories have promised to view profit to meet 'particular increases situations' with 'some latitude'.

The working class will not enjoy such benefits. If the miners, for example, go on strike for their present wage claim, which is less than the increases achieved best two over the last five years, they will find themselves threatened with fines or imprisonment under the Phase Two regula- tions. The result of this policy has been a dramatic fall in living standards. comprehensive The most guide to food prices is pub- lished by "The Grocer' magazine each week. This shows that since the 'freeze' was imposed in early have risen November, prices from an index level of 133.72 points to 142.41 points (about 7 per cent) in the week end- ing February 3. In the final week, price increases were the steepest of the whole period, fresh foods rose 2.28 points and processed foods 1.27 points. Not only did prices rise during the first 'freeze' months, increasescomparing the the level of one month in 1972 and the level in the same month for 1971—were the highest of the whole of 1972.

For example, prices in June 4.3 points last year were • the exceptionally high levels which occur in some EEC higher than in June 1971, in October they were 7.4 points higher, in November, after the reeze, 9.5 points higher and in January 11.5 points higher.

The cost of almost every food has rocketed—meat, eggs, fish, vegetables, fruit, coffee, sausages, cooked meats, jams, honey, frozen fish, frozen meat, canned hamburgers, meat, biscuits, pasta--they all escaped the rigours of the 'freeze'.

The kind of price hike suffered by housewives is laid 3 'Grocer' out in February Compared with February 1972 fresh meat is 41 per cent is 41 per cent dearer, ( fish dearer, fruit is 18.5 per cent dearer, coffee is 11.6 per cent dearer, with another rise on the way, flour is 10 per cent dearer, processed meats are 10.8 per cent dearer, vegetables 17.5 per cent dearer and eggs 9.6 per cent dearer. The magazine's final com- ment on this orgy of rises is: "The outlook for food prices is not favourable. Much depends on government action.' They, were referring to the dam of requests for increases now building up at the Ministry The major of Agriculture. manufacturers have got 1,000 claims in following increased raw material costs-the first is expected to be bread, up 1fp a loat. Many housewives will ге- member the promise made by Tory leader Edward Heath- 043. 380฿ EEC countrie 'We

BESSEL

high som Brit wer and shif ber, Con the

0 200 150 380 of had leaped up 1o EEC Tevels. Above: Italian meat stall.

am confident, drawled Rippon, 'that our food prices will not reach

1n nts the and ner. eat, cal. ped ike laid 972 ent ent ent ent on ent are bles eggs

JELL®

is: s is nds Tune ases stry 000 sed T 1S re- some EEC countries'. A few k$ later ber 'We will reduce the rate of at a stroke' price increases The government's subsequent performance has revealed depths of and arrogance cynicism with which the Tories battery Behind of rule. a blatant lies and publicity gim- they are seeking to micks, drive the working class back into the 1930s. Another Tory boast, which may yet achieve more notoriety than Heath's election pledge, was made by Geoffrey Rippon, the Tory in charge of Common Market negotiations, to Cardifi housewives last November.

am confident drawled Rippon, 'that our food prices will not reach the exceptionally high levels which some EEC countries. Occur in A few weeks later after beef had leaped up to EEC levels, putting over 20 per cent on British prices, Tory Ministers were asking the working class to eat chicken. 'Prices are high high—so and they will stay shift yourselves and change your diet' This was basically the message from Joseph God- ber, Minister of Agriculture.

This meat scare gave house- wives the first taste of the Common Market. Entry into the EEC was the last nail in the coffin of cheap food.

The fulcrum of the Market's is the Common food system Agricultural Policy. This is quite simply a mechanism for keeping food prices far higher had leaped up to EEC levels. Above: Itallan mei than necessary, to safeguard the farmers' profits, the manu- facturers and ultimately the food wholesalers and retailers.

Before February 1 British farmers were subsidized. But at least the revenue was collected via taxes and there- fore had progressive a character (since under income The tax the rich pay more). subsidy in Europe is paid by an artificially higher price and therefore falls directly onto the shopper. The poorer you are the more you suffer-always Common the way in the Market. The system works this way.

The capitalist authorities of the EEC take the highest proposed price of a food commodity and fix the level there. price of The European wheat, barley and oats, for example, is equal to the price in Duisberg, where levels are the highest. Prices are geared to production in the most in- efficient areas. The burden will be enormous Meanwhile all cheap im- ports from outside the EEC are choked off with a common tariff and, if this is not high enough, an extra levy. production is British food being forced into this system now-already higher bacon and pork prices are forecast (these are the meats Tories advise us Itallan meat stall. urd to eat instead of beet!).

At present a special levy has been introduced. This is paid to exporters who sell say high- priced French wheat in the low- priced British market-the government will make up the loss from the public purse. Gradually the full high-price and will come in the system working class will beaf the full burden as prices rise to EEC nd levels. And the burden will be enormous. The latest study on the Common Market showed butter 179 per cent dearer in the EEC, cheese 62 per cent and bread 10 per cent. There as many workers who are, travel abroad have found out to their cost, very few foods cheaper in Europe than in Britain. The EEC's economic philoso- phy was revealed in an agree- ment signed in May 1970 to production. reduce wheat People still wanted more bread, but, in the words of 'socialist' 'the Sicco Mansholt, Ministers recognized that the major exporters had a common responsibility to regulate their production in a manner which would bring supplies into balance with opportunities in the international market [i.e.

profit opportunities].' Mansholt continued: The government should exercise care in implementing the new or existing programme of sup- port and avoid measures which Workers Press, Monday would have the effect of stimu- lating production.? It's back, once more, to the wheat 1930s—plough under, dump the fruit and burn the coffee, but never, never allow profit to fall. It's bad for the market. Lord Watkinson, the head of the Cadbury Schweppes food empire never said a truer word when he reminded an audience of executives recently: "The British food industry is in for a very rough and stormy time in 1973. Britain's entry into the Common Market may heighten the waves... the era of cheap food is over. VAT: improves the wealth of the rich On April Fool's Day, the Tories have one more blow to deal to the working class Value Added Tax. This again is an EEC invention and, like everything to come out of the Common Market, is specifically designed to improve the wealth of the rich at the expense of the poor. (The tax was intro- duced by the French govern- Poujade after the ment rebellion when the middle class revolted and refused to pay more direct taxes.) The Tories admit that VAT will put up to 2.5 per cent on prices. All evidence suggests the increase will be much higher. In Denmark prices rose 6.5 per cent in six months as a result of VAT and in Norway 6.25 per cent, despite a price freeze. VAT is levied throughout the system of production. At each stage of a commodity's journey to the shop the tax will be levied at 10 per cent of the value added to the product.

Hence the supplier of goods will be taxed £10 on goods worth £100 he sells the manu- facturer. But the price charged the manufacturer will be to £110, allowing the supplier to recover the tax. The manufacturer then adds £50 value to the raw materials, making the 'price' £160. With 10 per cent VAT he sells the goods to the wholesaler at £176. The wholesaler adds £24 on the 'price' making it £200, this with 10 per cent VAT means he sells it to the retailer at £220. The retailer adds £30 goods making their to the 'price' £250. This, with 10 per cent VAT, means he sells to the consumer at £275. Here the buck stops, the consumer cannot pass on the prices he foots the whole f25 tax bill.

The Tories make great play of the fact that food is 'zero- rated'. But this means that it is not levied yet. Food is Food Prices since the 'Fre 143- E 142 - 141- 140- 139- 138- 137- 136- 135- 134- 133- 132- 1311 130+

NOV 4 NOV 11 NOV 18 NOV 25 DEC 2 DEC 9 DEC 16 DEC

ovember up.: canned vegetables, coffee, fresh fish, meal acon, ham, eggs and fresh fru December up: eggs, fresh fish, fresh fruit, fresh meat sausages, pies, cooked meats, processe meats, vegetables. January up: fresh meat, fresh fruit, eggs, vegetables, canned meat, processed meats, sausage: Figures from The Grocer' 33, Monday February 19, 1973 PAGE 7 highly likely to be taxed as we move up from the 10 per cent VAT rate to the higher EEC levels. The tax is highly regressive since it falls equally on the rich and the poor. It is part of the Tory plan to shift the tax burden away from the wealthy (they have already slashed sur- and corporation tax tax On firms) and make the working class foot the bill for state for expenditure. It has the added bonus of allowing the Chancellor to in- taxes when he wants. crease No budget is necessary. It is possible therefore for the Tories to recover wage in- creases by bumping up the VAT rate. In addition VAT will have an important indirect effect on prices. All businessmen must calculate their turnovers in the various items carrying VAT if they are not to fall foul of the Inland Revenue. This massive administrative task is beyond the resources of many small shopkeepers. VAT will drive them out of business. But it is for also headache the multiples. One Irish retailer with a stafi of 600 in 15 supermarkets has calculated that the overtime caused by VAT calculations costs him as much as £2,000 a week. This, he says, will be passed on to the shopper. SPA, the association of independent has estimated that grocers, even the prices of zero-rated food goods will increase at least by 1.5 per cent as a result of VAT. VAT, the Common Market and the general Tory policy of higher prices all add up to a massive drop in living standards for the working class. This will happen during 1973 if the Tories are not removed from office. It is not merely a question of paying more, but the rapid erosion of a most fundamental right. It would be extremely fool- believe that as the ish to economic crisis gets worse the same conditions of widespread poverty and misery, like those experienced by most of the working class in the 1930s, will not reappear. Already there are reports of the poorest and most vulner- able sections of the working class suffering a steep decline in living standards-the old, the unemployed, the homeless and the children from broken homes have little defence against this offensive. Now it is the turn of the wage-earner to suffer.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

he Freeze' -T T

C 9 DEC 16 DEC 23 DEC 30 JAN 6 JAN 13 JAN 20 JAN 27 FEB 3

, fresh fish, meaf, neats, processed

STROESSNER'S PARAGUAY

Part one of a series on Paraguay. By Jack Gale PAGE & Workarz Praze. Mandar Fabr Paraguay is the smallest south Am- country in erica. Recent official figures give the income per head as $236 a year. But the figure for the agricultural sector, where 70 per cent of the popu- lation lives, was only $81 a head in 1970. Some 2.6 per cent of all landowners own over 75 per cent of the land. At the other extreme, 36 per cent of all farmers have no titles at all to their land. There is no income tax. At least 50 per cent of the 1970 budget expenditure lac ($82.8m) went on military and police expenditure, compared with 2 per cent on agriculture.

The peasants (campesinos) live in abject poverty—a fact dan Fahruar 10 1079 highlighted by the decline in the number of cattle from 5.5 million in 1956 to 4.3 million in 1970. The main exports are meat, wood, vegetable oils, tobacco but there is a and cotton, chronic deficit in the balance of payments, especially over the last ten years, which has been. covered by huge inflows of US capital. The foreign debt on June 30, 1970, was $150m. Outside the capital city of Asuncion, medical attention is practically nou-existent. Only one in six children receive six years of primary education.

Piped water and electricity are confined to the central zone of Asuncion, a city which still ire lacks sewers. The two parties of the *ed ruling class—-the Liberal Party and the Colorado Party— emerged after 1870. In 1932 the conflict between Standard Oil and Royal Dutch over the Chaco oil reserves forced Paraguay and Bolivia into a war which Paraguay 'won' at the cost of 30,000 dead. These gave her control of the oil bearing lands-which were promptly sold back to Bolivia (and Standard Oil) by her corrupt negotiators at the peace conference. During World War II, Paraguay was ruled by the pro-Nazi Morinigo dictator- ship. After the war there was short-lived coalition of a 'Febreristas' and Liberals, Stalinists, which was replaced in 1947 by the Colorado Party.

A succession of Colorado Presidents followed until the military coup of General Alfredo Stroessner in 1954.

The Colorado Party, like the Liberals, based on the small upper class of Asuncion, is now the tool of the ruling military élite. Stroessner's military coup was made with the support of a group of high- ranking Colorados. In 1958 Stroessner's rivals in the party were expelled or jailed and formed the Movimiento Popu- lar Colorado (MOPOCO) in exile. Since 1954 Stroessner has ruled with absolute power derived from Article 52 of the 1940 Constitution (now em- bodied in Article 79 of the 1967 Constitution) which gives him power to declare a state of emergency and suspend the habeas corpus. In 1958 he was re-elected to the presidency in an 'elec- tion' in which he was the only candidate. In 1963 he was again re- elected', in contravention of the constitution. In 1967 the constitution was amended in order to allow him to stand again. He was again re-elected Left: Alfredo Stroessner, who has been in power in Paraguay since the military 1954. coup Stroessner's rivals have either been jailed or expelled. under conditions where even the bourgeois Liberal Party was denied the right of assembly or any Press or radio coverage and in which enrol- ment of Liberal supporters on register severely the was restricted. tial candidate for the elections of 1973. Colorado Party membership among the middle class (which is about 8 per cent of the population) is ensured by a regulation which makes it com- pulsory for all public em- ployees, including teachers and state doctors, to join. Even the Liberal Party went underground from 1954 to 1962. During this time the Liberal élite became worried at revolutionary agitation among the campesinos who had previously supported them.

Then, the United States per- suaded Stroessner to create a façade of democracy for the 1963 elections, in an effort to divert this revolutionary feel- ing back behind a safe, bour- geois 'opposition' A Liberal Party group, led by Dr Carlos Levi Ruffinelli, was persuaded to take part in the elections and was given 20 out of a total of 60 parlia- mentary seats, plus high salaries and tax-free imported cars. By 1968 the main body of the Liberal Party had seen the advantages of such democracy and participated in the elec- tion on these terms. There is also the Febrerista Party in Paraguay. This arose out of social discontent follow- ing the Chaco War of the 1930s. Its ideological orientation today is broadly similar to that of the West German Social Democrat Party, from which it receives assistance. Christian The Democrat Party, founded in 1960, is also without legal recognition and so is not permitted to contest elections, hold a conference, or publish a newspaper. Five of its leaders were expelled from Paraguay in December 1969. The Febrerista and Christian Democrats get their support from a section of the urban middle class. In September 1971 a group of dissidents from the Feb- rerista, Liberal Radical and Christian Democrat Parties joined together and founded the Paraguayan Socialist Move- ment. There is no autonomous body representing the working class and campesinos. The Communist Party of Paraguay was founded in 1928 and grew significantly when it opposed the imperialist war over the Chaco oil resources in the 1930s. The Partido Comunista Paraguaya (PCP) grew in strength until 1947. In 1943 it began publishing its news- paper 'Adelante' ('Forward"').

Between August 1946 and January 1947 the PCP was legalized for the only time in its history, apart from a weeks during couple of the Febrerista regime of 1937.

It hastened to hold back the masses by entering a coalition government with the Liberals and Febreristas. This alliance with the bour- geoisie contributed to the In 1953 Oscar Credyt came PCP leader. In the 1950s and 1960s the organization was almost destroyed by mas- sive police infiltration.

Months before the 1958 General Strike three leading PCP members were arrested— Antonio Maidana, Julio Rojas and Alfredo Alcorta-and the strike was severely repressed.

Maidana, Rojas and Alcorta are still in jail.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

The Chester-le-Street by- election will present voters in that north-eastern constituency with a mind boggling choice.

The clear favourite to win in a seat which has returned Labour since the Labour Party was founded in 1906, is Giles Radice, research officer of the General and Municipal Workers' Union. The Liberals have 'Geordie' Suggett, described in the Press gentle little antique as dealer' But the most bizarre candi- date is Neil Balfour, an Ox- ford-educated lawyer-cum-mer- chant banker, for the Tories.

Helping Balfour is a veritable gala of 'star performers'. These include Mrs Balfour, who is the • Princess Elizabeth former Yugoslavia, a cousin of the Duke of Kent. Above: Libyan leader Gaddafi.

The eccentric Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, has announced the display of ban on portraits of leaders. He told the Arab Socialist Union (ASU), the only recog- nized political party, that he had personally intervened to stop the erection of a statue for the late Egyptian leader, Presi- dent Nasser. The aim of the ban was to forestall those who wanted to put up portraits 'of atheists as Lenin and such Marx', , he added. The Lincoln area of the Road Haulage Association is still patting itself on the back over a unique public-relations coup earlier this week. At a cosy little gathering of friends, this powerful em- ployers' pressure group brought local Women's together the the Society for the Institute, Preservation of Rural England and .. the Transport and General Workers' Union. They all got together to hear speeches about improving the road system and watch films called 'The Third Age of Trans- port' and "The Town that Nearly Died of Traffic'. No doubt the conservation- ists lapped it up, although what the Women's Institute thought of it all is difficult to estimate.

But the interesting question is: what was the T&GWU doing in the middle of all this employers' good will? Members who joined the union to fight the employers please note.

who are slaving away Dockers for millionaire Lord Vestey might like to know how his lordship is getting along. He has just purchased a 500-acre cattle and sheep farm in the Cotswolds at some fabulous undisclosed-price. In March last year the Central Electricity Generating Board closed its power station in Lombard Road, Battersea, south London. Alfred Williams, who had spent 26 years lagging pipes with asbestos, was made re- dundant. Shortly after, Mr Williams began complaining about pains in his chest. He became short of breath and could not walk far. He had two spells in hospital and was sent home bedridden.

On November 26 last he was found dead in his bed. The Battersea coroner last week found that Mr Williams had died from lung cancer caused by asbesteosis. Where is Britain Going? Paperback 37Łp • Problems of the British Revolution Paperback 35p ' Lessons of October Paperback 60p In Defence of the October Revolution Pamphlet 15p Marxism and the Trade Unions Pamphlet 25p Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International Pamphlet 10p Postage: 10p per book, 5p per pamphlet.

Order from: NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS 186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG

BY JOHN SPENCER

President Nixon has in- dicated that agreement has been reached with Cuba to put an end to the island's use as a sanctuary for hi-jackers.

Secret talks on the question have been under way through intermediaries since Swiss December last year. The talks began after the spectacular seizure of an East- ern Airways jet over the United States. Like so many previous planes, it was diverted to Havana. the hi-jackers But were definitely not welcome in the Cuban capital. Fidel Castro personally assured the plane's pilot that they would be jailed for life. Washington sent a message of thanks to the Cubans for the way they had handled the situation. The talks began shortly afterwards. No doubt Castro's indig- nation at the Eastern hi-jack was largely synthetic, designed as a signal to Washington rather than as an expression of his feelings about the particular incident. since June last year Ever both sides have been looking for a convenient pretext to get together for negotiations and hi-jacking is a better pre- text than most. It is clear that having reached this agreement, the two sides can now make rapid to 'normalization' of progress commercial and diplomatic ties ruptured since 1960.

The question of ending the blockade of Cuba and im- proving relations in the Carib- certainly bean almost was raised during Castro's visit to the Soviet Union last year.

He toured eastern Europe in President Nixon's wake and received an exceptionally warm welcome from the Kremlin leaders. Both sides affirmed their total solidarity on all major questions. On his return the Central Committee of the Cuban Com- munist Party passed a resolu- tion affirming that an improve- ment in relations with the was impossible United States while US policies remained un- changed. The statement, published in the Party newspaper full in 'Granma', was generally taken Workers Press, Monda Top: Castro. Above: Nixon. Rapid prog an indication of Castro's as willingness to talk seriously with Washington. The first tentative feelers were put out in June last year, shortly after Nixon's visit to Moscow. The White House Press office announced that an official US delegation had visited the island for the first time since the blockade was imposed. The delegation, consisting of four experts on oceanography, attended a United Nations con- ference on the ecology of the Caribbean. Harris B. Stewart, the delegation leader, said they had received a VIP reception from the Cubans, who held a party for them on special Varadero beach. Evidently the visit was a because it was not success, long before the Cuban govern- ment's attitude of grudging acceptance of hi-jackers under- went an abrupt change. The Cuban leader has gone out of his way to reassure the Americans and remove any fears they may have that he still harbours 'revolutionary' ambitions. Visiting Chile and Peru last year, he endorsed President Salvador Allende's Fabian "peaceful road to socialism' and entered into very friendly relations with the Peruvian military junta. Castro pointedly moderated rantings against Nixon his while on this tour, though his newspapers in Havana--in a burst of outdated ultra-leftism 35, Monday February 19, 1973 PAGE 9

STA

apid progress to 'normalization'.

—still insist on printing the US leader's name with a swastika instead of the 'x'.

(Establishing relations with fascism would be nothing new, of course, for Castro, who has excellent relations with General Franco's Spanish dictatorship.)

Castro is well on the way back to respectability. Nixon's report that the anti-hi-jack treaty is almost ready for signing is an indication of the Washington- in new stage Havana relations. It is the first diplomatic treaty since relations were rup- tured 12 years ago. These years saw the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Cuban missiles crisis and the attempt, notably the Bolivian fiasco under Che Guevara, to promote rural uprisings on the Cuban 'model' These things led the leaders of the United States Socialist Workers' Party to revise the basis of Marxism and acclaim Cuba as a workers' state.

In reality Castro is a nation- alist leader who was driven by US hostility into the arms of the Soviet Stalininsts. His regime is a bourgeois-nation- alist one, closely dependent on the Soviet Union. Cuba, however, is a major economic burden on the USSR that country which can ill afford. Now that relations with Washington are improved, it cannot be long before the Cuban regime rèveals its true character in an abrupt turn towards imperialism.

PAGE 10 Workers Press, Monday February 19, 1973 Three homeless families arrived with a removal van. He was accompanied by -two of them of Asian of They group burly men. origin-recently moved moved out the girls belongings into empty flats in Effra and carted them away. Bystanders swear they saw Road, Brixton, in south handles in the front pick-axe London. of the van, although they were not used. It was i a desperate act to get a roof over their heads in • About two dozen police were on the scene throughout these wintry months. By acci- the operation. They 'kept dent, or design, they chose but did become observation', rather inhospitable places to involved in scuffles with mem- squat. The flats were in the bers of the crowd that process of being redecorated gathered. One member of the ...for police families. public and Within days of their take- was arrested charged with obstruction. He over abnormally large an was later acquitted. group of police officers arrived on the scene. The families and The two girls are still living belongings in the premises. their were per- In the window they have a emptorily bundled onto the slogan: "The property has been street outside. A few days later the police occupied by We squatters. made another show of intend to stay here. If you try strength. They went to Railton to evict us we will prosecute.

You must deal with us througn Road on Herne Hill where two the courts.' coloured girls had moved into an empty flat above a shop.

It seems that Defries is going The lease of the shop had been take their advice. There TO bought by firm have already been laundry consulta- which wanted the flat vacant.

tions to get the squatters kicked out by The girls, Olive Morris (20), the of a student of the London High Court writ for trespass.

College of Printing, and Liz These laws were recently tight- Turnbull (18) were ened by the Tory government at home when Mr. N. Defries, acting for and are now generally regarded as foolproof in favour of the the new leaseholders, arrived with a squad of police. owner. Turnbull The activities of the police Miss taken was away by the police and sub- in both these cases have drawn complaints from the sequently charged with havıng angry local Council for Community an axe handle as an offensive weapon. She is now on bail.

Relations. They want urgent Miss Morris, who talks with the police. was dragged Meanwhile the National screaming from the flat, managed to climb onto the Front south London has In roof where launched she stayed three petition-signing hours until Defries and the campaign against 'mugging'.

It police went away. claims to have 1,200 signatures Both girls later reoccupied demanding to petition the flat. Last week the agent heavier sentences. Do you get

WORKERS PRESS

regularly? If not, why not take out a subscription now? {20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) £10.14 for 6 months (156 issues) £5.07 for 3 months (78 issues) If you want to take Workers Press twice a week the rates are: £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) 16.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Fill in the form below NOW and send to : Circulation Dept., Workers Press, 186a Clapham High St., London SW4 7UG. I would like to take out a subscription to Workers Press.

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Or Full subscription (six days) for ..months. Name Address Amount enclosed £ Above: the luxury liner 'Vistafjord' tied u Dear Editor, freedoms' One of the 'four much-vaunted by Tory our rulers-for which the working- class fought over the past two centuries—is the 'freedom of the Press'. To the Tory owners of this country's Press this, of course, the freedom of the meant newspaper publishers to write the news in their own way, to push Tory policy and to dis- tort in their favour anything that could possibly be so twisted as to influence the reading public against the trade unions, the Labour Party or any person or group of persons daring to oppose their Tory policies. Anyone expecting a verbatim report of his speech or that his letter will not be carved up and quoted out of context is in for a shock, unless of course he's • a true blue sup- porter condemning the 'great unwashed', as Churchill once called the working class.

We in the north-east, with a monopoly local Press, are familiar with the practice of the 'Newcastle Evening Chronicle' and the 'Journal' issued by the famous Thomson House. The issue of the Journal' of Saturday February 10, 1973, is a glaring example of the methods to which they resort in an attempt to put over half- truths in the guise of news with the intention of mislead- ing the public and, more important, to attempt to split the trade unions in the area.

Under a photograph of the liner at present being com- pleted at the Neptune yard of Swan's shipbuilders (Sir John Hunter) on the river Tyne, 'f25,000 they have a headline bonus splits shipyard'. ord' tied up at Wallsend.

The article said that the had been promised men £25,000 bonus if they com- 'Vista- pleted the luxury liner fjord' by April. The imaginative writer said: 'But the smiles in a have turned to glares "who -gets - how - much" row the company.' sweeping But the truth of the matter is that Mr Parker, the Neptune boss, insisted that he would allocate the money and in- tended giving £7,500 to one trade and sharing the rest as he wished among the other trades. The trade he was favouring was of course in dispute with the firm over a production bonus! Which gave rise to the question — was this an offer from the shipping line or an attempt by Swan Hunter to pay this disputed production bonus? The shop stewards of all involved trades agreed by I would like in abou Fill in the form below and

SECRETARY,

SOCIALIST

186а CLAPHAM HIGH ST, L

Name. Address majority decision that Mr Parker would do no such thing! And suddenly, out of the blue, the trade in dispute have settled their claim with . the management! The £25,000 will be shared between the trades to distribute as they wish, among the mem- bers of their sections! Hardly the outcome envisaged by the "Journal'. May we end by asking the management to explain through the Thomson Press what hap- pened to the £100,000 given back by the Tory government on the completion of the last ship in this yard 'HMS Bristol which sailed on December 16, 1972? There has been no 'split' on this one because the workers have not been offered a brass farthing. John West, shipyard worker. ke information about low and send to NATIONAL

LABOUR

LEAGUE,

H ST, LONDON SWA TUQ.

FROM PAGE ONE

formed the centre of the three- hour discussion. There obvious general was agreement when Jock Gibson, Chrysler UK from convenor Coventry, warned that if the Tory government succeeded in its present plans to destroy the trade union movement in Bri- tain the outcome would be a dictatorship worse than that of Adolf Hitler. from Morris Motors, steward Cowley, Oxford, reported that a point of confrontation was close in his as well as in tactory Ford's.

SLL

MONDAY FEE

PUBLIC

MEETINGS

Speaker

WANDSWORTH

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 22,

8pm Wandsworth Town Hall Wandsworth High Street speaker: MIKE BANDA (SLL Central Cttee)

BRADFORD

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 22,

7.30 p.m. Central Library Top of Hall Ings. Speaker: Cliff Slaughter (SLL Central Committee)

CASTLEFORD

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25,

6.30 p.m. Castleford Civic Hall Ferry Bridge Road Speaker: C. SLAUGHTER (SLL Central Committee)

BIRMINGHAM

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25, 7pm Digbeth, Civic Hall Digbeth, Birmingham speaker: MIKE BANDA (SLL Central Cttee) Fight rising rents and prices Defend basic democratic rights Force the Tories to resign SOUTH EMSALL: Monday Feb- 19, 7.30 p.m. Westfield ruary Social Centre, Westfield Recrea- tion Ground BRIXTON: Tuesday February 20, 8 p.m. Brixton Training Centre, Control Room. 'No state control of wages' LIVERPOOL: Tuesday February 20, 7.30 p.m. AEU House, Mount Pleasant. DAGENHAM: Tuesday February 20, 8 p.m. Barking_Co-op Hall, Fanshawe Avenue. 'Defend basic rights' SKELMERSDALE: Tuesday_Feb- ruary 20, 7.30 p.m. Quarry Bank.

'Forward to the Pageant'.

EAST LONDON: Tuesday Feb- 'Festival Inn' ruary 20, ', Chrisp E.14. 'Common Street, Market Conspiracy'. LANCASTER: Wednesday Feb- bruary 21, 8 p.m. Trades Hall, Fenton Street (near GPO). 'Stop Defend retreat WINSFORD: Wednesday February 21, 8 p.m. LANGLEY: Wednesday February 21, 8 p.m. 'Cardinal's Hat', Wood Street. 'Defend Democratic Rights.

Forward to the Pageant'. PRESTON: Wednesday February p.m. 'Waterloo Hotel' 21, 7.30 Friargate. 'The Road to Workers' Power' WOOLWICH: Wednesday Feb- 'The Castle' ruary 21, 8 p.m. 'Powis Street, S.E.18. 'The Crisis of leadership'

TOTTENHAM:

Wednesday Feb- ruary 21, 8 p.m. 'Bricklayers Arms', High Road, , near White Hart Lane. 'The case for a La- Unity on the straight wages issue was not possible between the two sections of workers, he said, because the Ford workers were fighting for parity with Midlands pay rates. But the real unity had to be on the question of the govern- ment. There was a danger of be- trayal by the TUC on March 5.

Therefore the fight to force the government to resign and re-elect a Labour government pledged to socialist policies was the central question facing every section of workers in struggle.

There those who were were hesitant on the political ques- tions facing the working class, said Mick Murphy, a Ford con- Unite in action to defend

NORTH KENT

•WATFORD

NDAY FEBRUARY 19

MONDAY FEBRUARY

8pm 8pm The Shakespeare. Trades Union Hall Powis Street near Watford Junction Woolwich

G HEALY

Speaker

MIKE BANDA

(SLI. National Sec! I Sul Central Cutee)

SOUTHAMPTON

MONDAY FEBRUARY 26, 8 p.m.

Marlands Hall Havelock Road opp. Civic Centre Speaker: ALAN THORNETT (Deputy Senior Steward Morris Motors in a personal capacity)

MEDWAY

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27, 8pm Aurora Hotel Brompton Road Gillingham speaker: MIKE BANDA (SLL Central Cttee)

SLOUGH

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28

8pm Britwell Community Centre Long Furlong Drive Britwell Estate speaker: G HEALY (SLL National Sec)

DAGENHAM

THURSDAY MARCH 1, 8pm Manor Park Library Romford Rd/Rabbitts Road opp Rabbitts Pub speaker: G HEALY (SLL National Sec) bour government pledged to CLA socialist policies' STEVENAGE: Thursday February 22, 8_p.m. 'Red Lion', Stevenage Old Town. 'Support the gasmen'.

LEWISHAM: Thursday February 22, 8 p.m. Deptford Engineers Club. (opposite New Cross station). HACKNEY: Thursday February 22, 8 p.m. Parlour Room, Cen- tral Hall, opposite Town Hall, Mare Street. WILLESDEN: Thursday February 8 p.m. Labour and Trades 2, Hall, High Road, N.W.10. 'Road to Workers' Power'. SCUNTHORPE: Sunday February 25, 7.30 p.m. The Kingsley Hall, Cole Street. BASILDON: Sunday February 25, 5.20 p.m. Barnstable Community 'Road Centre. to Workers' Power' WANDSWORTH: Monday Feb- ruary 26, 8 p.m. 'King's Arms' High Street, S.W.18. 'Defend the right to work'. WATFORD: Monday February 26, 8 p.m. Trade Union Hall, Wood- ford Road, near Watford Junc- tion Station. 'Rise of fascism in Italy' ACTON: Tuesday February 27, Pageant brid -The Road to Workers' Power. me Socialist Labour Le NEWCASTLE: Monday February 19, p.m. FORD ARMS, Shields Road. 1933-1938-From the German defeat to the founding of Fourth International SHEFFIELD: Monday February 19, 8 p.m. YS PREMISES, venor from Dagenham. But people had been hesitant at first when • the question of a £10 pay claim in Ford's had been raised. Now the idea was generally accepted. natural when Hesitancy was the issue of fighting the govern- ment was posed, but workers were going to get used to it— 'politics will grow on you', he said.

CORRECTIONS:

The article 'Recession seems to have says Mandel' 5 ended, in on page Saturday's Workers Press . was by Peter Jeffries. In our page 12 statement on Monty Saturday the dates of Johnstone on his membership of the Revolutionary Communist Party were given as 1945- 1946. This should have read 1943-1946.

defend basic rights

ACTON

RUARY 19.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY

8 p.m. Woodlands Hail inction stn Crown Street !: i

HULL

THURSDAY MARCH 1, 8 p.m. 'Windmill Hotel' Witham Speaker: CLIFF SLAUGHTER (SLL Central Cttee)

WEST LONDON

THURSDAY MARCH 1, 8 p.m. Lyndhurst Hall Grafton Road, NW3 Speaker: M. BANDA (SLL Central Committee)

LUTON

FRIDAY MARCH 2, 8 p.m. Assembly Hall Town Hall Speaker: M. BANDA (SLL Central Committee)

TOTTENHAM

TUESDAY MARCH 6, 8 p.m. Lord Morrison Hall Chesnut Grove Speaker: G. HEALY (SLL National Secretary) to CLAPHAM: Tuesday February 27, 8 p.m. Clapham Manor Baths, Clapham Manor Street, S.W.4.

'Defend Democratic Rights'.

PADDINGTON: Tuesday Feb- ruary 27, 'Artesian', _ 8 p.m. corner Chepstow / Westbourne Park Road. CAMDEN: Tuesday February 27, 8 p.m. 'Prince Albert', Wharfe- dale Road, Kings Cross. 'Les- sons of fighting the Housing Finance Act. HARROW: Tuesday February 27, 8 p.m. Labour Hall, Wealdstone.

'All out for Wembley Pageant'.

TOOTING: Tuesday February 27, 'Selkirk Hotel'. 8 p.m. , Selkirk Road, Tooting Broadway. 'The rise of Italian Fascism'.

DERBY: Thursday, March 1, 7.30 Metal Mechanics' p.m. Premises, Charnwood Street.

CROYDON: Thursday March 1, 8 p.m. Ruskin House, Coombe Road. 'Support the gasmen.

HOLLOWAY: Thursday March 1, 8 p.m. Co-op Hall, Seven Sisters Road (near Finsbury Park Station). 'Marxism and the trade unions'. KINGSTON: Thursday March 1, 8 Cam- Liverpool Arms, p.m. nt bridge Road. 'Support the gas r'. men and hospital workers'.

ur League Lectures Portobello (near Jessops hos- "The pital) economic crisis and the socialist answer.

SHEFFIELD: Monday March 5, 8 p.m. YS PREMISES, Porto- bello (near Jessops hospital).

'The Revolutionary Party in Britain'. Workers Press, Monday February 19, 1973 PAGE 11

FEBRUARY

FUND NOW

£649.84 - TEN

DAYS LEFT

THESE ARE the to most decisive campalgn complete our ten days for raising our £1,750 Appeal Fund. We still monthly target. Let's not waste a moment are not yet half way. Raise extra of them and complete our total amounts. Rush these Immediately In good time. to: Now railwaymen, Ford Workers Press work- ers, teachers, hospltal workers, February Appeal Fund gasmen, civil servants 'the num- 186a Clapham High Street bers are growing —are all joining fight the for wages. United London, SW4 7UG would govern-

CAMBRIDGE

ment to resign.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25

But, It Is just at this time that the trade unlon leaders do Mawson Hall everything avold possible to Mawson Rd such a confrontation. Workers Press must be used to

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Speaker: Maureen Bambrick Only Workers Press fights for (YS Nat. Cttee) this leadership today. Help us therefore to press ahead with the

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11.00 1.33 Newe. 4.20 PuR News Film: Romper room. 6.oo Neve 4.25 3.00 Film: Run'. 4.22 London. 6. TheMave Maverick. 6.45 News. London. on. 10.30 11.20 News, 6 4:00 Reports. Gon. weather. Dyke. London. 10.30 Monday 10.40

WESTWARD.

1:57 Newsel •The 1.00 Leon: Chapman 12.05 Renort?. London. Ton- 4.20 Gus Honeybun. Diary.

YORKSHIRE: 9.30

6.00 London. 2.00 with Danton. 10.30 News. Date Long London 3.00 11.55 Faith for life Film: 4.50 Sk. Weather: 6.4s London 6.00

SOUTHERN:

London 10.00 London. Calendar. News. 12.05 тту: 3.00 dog. Name of famihadley-s 2. 30i Houseparty 300 game. li. t Weather Ugliest girl in town. 12.45 1.25 London. 6.00 by day. 6.45 fuR ON SDA: 9 12.05ndon. 01: 20* Hand- 10.30 London. Southern scene. 11.05 songs 210 don Theatre. 12.00 Farm 12.2 progress. Film Weather. Guideline. Devilsi 4.00 4.20 Lon- right. vesterdavs. Don't

TYNE

TEES.

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ANGLIA: 9.30

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GRAMPIAN:

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PAGE 12

Workers Press, Monday Fobruary 19, 1973

BRS

Maintenance engineers refuse to cross picket line drivers Key north gas plant fight on for bonus

MAINTENANCE WORK

at a key slows down Manchester gas plant is almost certain

BY DAVID MAUDE

to halt today when engineers refuse to

LABOUR CORRESPONDENT

cross picket lines. WE FIGHT on. This was the This latest extension of the gas workers' message of a series of week- dispute will threaten industry and consumers end depot meetings following in the north and central city the breakdown talks be- of areas supplied by the . giant

BY WORKERS PRESS

tween British Road Services Bradford Road plant.

INDUSTRIAL STAFF

and its drivers in the Mid- Engineers took their decision lands. as a gesture of solidarity with gasworkers who have Tory and Ils lll been out strike on SInce stewards' government, national action began almost 1,000 representing drivers two weeks ago. the rejected One told me that the oil-fuelled the dis- pute. three days without essential After talks repairs. and between The service gas workers stewards bradford Road have also launched voted to action halt the Many a f2.50 holding heavy Dialll the and Workers al c which they not calling out told me ont wor- possess by kers. Others. me that the Three drivers being the

WOLK LOTUC

Was applied as strictly as it could.

the bet been

IRE

L4-hour mounted at Bradford Road So far all lorries bringing

HIS

the motor in oil have been turned away. But the men are still not happy The Bradford Road, Manchester, recuit with the Service shop

FOSTER

Need more action steward Terry Irom the TUC. Left: George Sedgewick ... Union creeping Into this one.

LUSIC.

already that even if the Bradford works big molot shut down, supplies could As

BRS

Kenneth be through this i l they did h fetch or new BLACKPOOL gasworkers are on diverted the national with one. Cook plaintively on the their fifth day of all-out strike I've told her meter. see grid near Manchester the LOUD Als old lady action Partington, it-everyone that Tink mart wore De British-Leyland bit: going to 'We sitting it would come out. and if no- are out the A top niter we spoke to was like one 11 years 'For have thing's be raising on £20 week. And his tax of the men been

1COL

WUINCIS

the drivers highest Now allowance the ca Ted happen was anyone s «ocue In• usury. the Their bonus Corne 1O1Y pay until Heath decides they are just sick and tired of against the WorTS government's control_law. something. I think we the si situation. public, the Tory One fitter said he id fiter want more Several Friday's times we want is £16.99. paid

TUC.

would be An average the

LIC

with child would neconanons were coressco think will win this struggle 15 per cent and the leaders married

TOT

OIC

by until Victor Feather decides would come out and say they My line it liver n that get £20 a week face the can't on that.' 'We've been trying to get a fight big.' had accepted per cent. hours Sedgewick can't this now like this increase law Craftsman lompkins our lie Cals you who had just finished a 4 a.m. because This has led depot told or Heat. TrOm uaMW u nas always neld us back the hook, start in the bitter to the explosion. kers that he is paid saying that shop stewards' cold was more would be too hard Workers' Union district official delivering and fitting Midlands too, feelings bonus for meeting In the Alan LaW nave "The way the strike is being and See depot, _running arrange. get a good day: told Cook. "The first three weeks of the now, will Thompson, based at the to deliver and should all The reply was Birmingham, Lord workers' strike was unofficial gas out then detailed scheme, until could be decided in days,' he Sales

LAC

covering said. 'It's all lies what the Tories them. government set up claimed saying about the This meant a reduction in his right-wing Pay Board and think a lot of the lads here a went to Erdington to a 70-year- off normal back to work aneesed Want union and especially the way the should freeze ola lady wno was very mrigatened.

reall G&MWU is about it. She said that she couldn't turn prices, het sond T have not come 'not our wages. back • until we get a sub- the going the gas checked He went Instead all-out off, gas stantial increase of calls strike, union creeping 'We want a decent day's pay Tae 1S lap ana ll look au my strengt worker into eanwoine. this one. to move it. ber of the public who is opposed decent day's work. 4202000 Crition 101 a 'So went straight to what we are doing. All workers 'And we'll have to the the Tories are just depot and reported that to get the that a are in this fight.' Tories out first.' walcullg see History brought into knife-edge

LING SOCIALISTS & SOCIALISI LABOUR UNCI

fight in Wales

PUBLIC MEETING

UNITE ACTION • DEFEND

BASIC RIGHTS

BY ALEX MITCHELL

MAKE me TORIEs RESIN! TYDFIL town centre on a Saturday

MERTHYR

morning is a bustle of activity. It's weekend shop ping, a look at the shops and perhaps a drink in the club.

G. HEALY

The community is al- solidly working class situation that the or- most of the Pageant The big local tac- Workers' Road '0 Hoover's, tories are Toys, powers have drow mem. Triang Thomas's selves. Pies and Ansell's bre- Last Saturday monthe They the wery. al c campaigned they relatively new work- centre senunni places for men who once 'Keep Workers Press, Left the worked local coal- tickets for Thursday field. night's public meeting. But these plants do not Papers were sold out by The Pageant team In Merthyr Tydill, South Wales, campaign for Thursday night's meeting in the town.

compensate for the erry There s closures. Unemployment scarcely soul in these still per bar Taff Vale 1101C the history the Taff unions to take the political stand around in the story-every. centpeople all heard Vale railway fight. of around arguing streets haven't had a steady political situation has The privately-owned rail- Party in 1906. time. here. I didn', under. job for six years or more.

reached crisis point. Robert Bevan (20), 'When the caba- stand everything about it.

sued the an ret, I decided way Now They It means much the nearby Ebow what apprentice electrician at the that it more to not лке union and, Taiway was Vale them is threat. historic and infamous Ehow Vale steelworks and me now because I see what WC alc „me To

STOD

ine pub tall andey amed for ened with massive 'ratio- the a member of the Pageant about it. the working class has our campaign, our tey are judgement, union was which will cost taking notice. 'They come forward and hopp asked fined £23,000. committee, said 4,500 jobs.

FOR TICKETS:

been inter- The Merthyr was this legal attack contingent We'd so I did. I knew about thi See paze 2. whidh forced the trade ested in politics. It is into this knife-edged to becalls