Workers Press no. 1014

workers press TORIES OUTI GENERAL STRIKE was the constant chant of the 1,500 lobbyers outside yesterday's special TUC.

DAY PROTEST WON'T

BUDGE TORIES

INCORPORATING THE

DAILY ORGAN OF THE (

RIKE

TELEPHONE TOR

HIES OUT

SMASH

ATUA

ATUA

ATUA

TORYISH

STRIKE

GENERAL I

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SOCIALIST

STRIKE g

STRIKE

POLICIES!

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TORIES

OUT

TORIES OUTI GENERAL STRIKE was the constant chant of the 1,50

BY DAVID MAUDE OUR LABOUR CORRESPONDENT

THE TUC leaders have completely abandoned the fight for decent wages which has already been launched against the Tory government by hundreds of thousands of gasmen, hospital workers, teachers and civil servants.

Yesterday's special congress proposed no action which is capable of defeating the Tory government and its corporatist state pay laws.

The resolution for 'one day of national protest' carried by the Congress is too little, too late.

It will not have the slightest impact on the Tory government. It is nothing than a 'left' cover for •the more acceptance of the right-wing Congress document moved by TUC general secretary Victor Feather. What are workers already engaged in strike against the gov- ernment to do until this day of protest is held? Say prayers? By that time the Phase This will provoke even the Pay Two laws and more savage attacks on the basic democratic rights Boards be in full of will the working class in the workers will have swing; immediate months ahead. El plus 4 to accept the Congress accepted per cent or face fines and on show of hands the General jail. Council's document and then The TUC is cynically voted almost unanimously to sacrificing these sections hold the one-day strike on a the Tory of workers to date to be fixed. wolves just as they did the postmen two years Motions ago. By abolishing the right to The resolution for the free wage negotiations, the strike was jointly put to the Tories have dealt devas- by the tating blow at the basic de- meeting two largest unions, the T&GWU and the the mocratic rights of

AUEW.

working class. The TUC's capitulation is Another resolution spon- made at a time when the sored the white-collar by

ASTMS

and the technical economic crisis is rampaging through the world capitalist teachers' calling association for a reference back of the countries. INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • TUESDAY MARCH 6, 1973 • No 1014 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

TUC

AT GIVE

ATUA

UNEMPLOY'

GENERAL

'GENERAL ATUA

ATUA

STRIKE

STATE

ATUA

STRIKE

TELEPHONE TORIES AT

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ATUA RIGHT

DRIES ST OUT TRIE

STORIES

ATUA OUT TO

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THE

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GENERA

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TORIES

TRIKE

STRIKE

TORIES RESIGN

QUT

'General Strike! Tories out!'

TUC's policy of careful and OUTSIDE the Central Hall in Westminster selective support of workers yesterday more than 1,500 lobbyists (top), fighting laws 4,585,000 including gasmen, hospital ancillary staff, by defeated votes workers, to 3,280,000. railwaymen, engineers, students, print workers, elec- During the final stages of the debate the protest tricians, and teachers kept up a constant miners strike, leader chant of 'Tories Out' and 'General Strike' his packed revealed Lid. The contingent of workers later union submitted nad Friars Hall, Blackfriars (above), the to stronger resolution, under- call overflowing at an All Trades Unions Alli- stood to all-out Tor but 'didn't ance meeting to hear a report-back on the action. great deal support' and During the two-hour Congress decisions. so withdrew it. meeting the question most urgently posed surprised to find; 1was was alternative revolutionary leadership in Gormlet said. 'that this Con All speakers the working class. empha- gress is not quite so forceful as it made itself out to sized that the task main facing trade unionists today was the fight to force the • Full report of th Con- Tories out of office. gress appears on page 12 O

GENERAL

CONFRALOA

ATUA

SHITIE

TODAY

GOLD

A special economics correspondent looks at the developments •Behind in the the rise gold price.

PAGE 10

CHARTISM

PAGES 5, 6, 7 and 8 In another of our four-page Pageant specials we trace the history of Chartism— one of the episodes to be presented at the Empire Pool, Wembley, next Sun- day. See page 4.

FORD

ON PAGE 11

Our Industrial Staff assess how the strike movement at Ford's was betrayed. Be sure of seeing these vital and very Important articles for the whole labour and trade union movement every day In

WORKERS PRESS

Contact circulation our department - Telephone 01-622 7029 — for a single copy or a subscription. today's rapidly developing situation YOU can't afford to be without it.

workers press

DAY PROTEST WON'T

BUDGE TORIES

INCORPORATING THE

DAILY ORGAN OF THE C

RIKE

FFLESHONE TORI

HIES OUT

SHASH

ATUA

ATUA

ATUA

TORYISH

-STRIKE

GENERAL!

- WITH

SOCIALIST

STRIKE

STRIKE

POLICIES!

ATUA

TORIES

OUT

TORIES OUTI GENERAL

constant chant of the 1,500

BY DAVID MAUDE OUR LABOUR CORRESPONDENT

THE TUC leaders have completely abandoned the fight for decent wages which has already been launched against the Tory government by hundreds of thousands of gasmen, hospital workers, teachers and civil servants.

Yesterday's special congress proposed no government and its corporatist state pay laws.

The resolution for 'one day of national protest' carried by the Congress is too little, too late.

It will not have the slightest impact on the Tory government. It is nothing more than a 'left' cover for the acceptance of the right-wing Congress document moved by TUC general secretary Victor Feather. What are workers already engaged in strike against the gov- ernment to do until this day of protest is held? Say prayers? By that time the Phase This will provoke even Two laws and the Pay more savage attacks on the basic democratic Boards will be rights full of the the working class swing; workers will have immediate months ahead. to accept the El plus 4 per cent or face fines and Congress accepted on of hands the General show jail. Council's document and then The TUC is cynically voted almost unanimously to sacrificing these sections hold the one-day strike on a of workers to the Tory date to be fixed. they did wolves just as the postmen two years Motions ago. By abolishing the right to the The resolution for the free wage negotiations, Tories strike was jointly put to the have dealt a devas- tating blow at the basic de- meeting by the two largest the T&GWU and the mocratic rights of the unions,

AUEW

working class. The TUC's capitulation is Another resolution SDon- when the made at a time sored by the white-collar

ASTMS

and the technical economic crisis is rampaging teachers' calling throueh the world capitalist association for a reference back of the countries. INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • TUESDAY MARCH 6, 1973 • No 1014 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

TUC

MIT GIVE

ATUA

EMPLOY' GENERAL ATUA

ATUA

STRIKE TRIES ST OUT PRIE

ATUA

TEN TORIES ATUA

FELESHONE TORIES AT

ATUA RIGHT

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OUT

ATUA

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MAKE

THE

'NERAL

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ATUA

TORIES

TRIKE

STRIKE

TORIES RESIGN

QUT

turday & specIa TUC 'General Strike! Tories out!'

TUC's policy of careful and OUTSIDE the Central Hall in Westminster selective support of workers yesterday more than 1,500 lobbyists (top), was 4,585,00 including gasmen, hospital ancillary staff, defeated votes workers, civil servants, to 3,280,000. railwaymen, engineers, students, print workers, elec- During the final stages of the debate on thad protest tricians, and teachers kept up a constant miners' chant of 'Tories Out' and 'General Strike'.

strike, revealed Gormley The Ludl contingent of workers later packed union submitted Friars Hall, Blackfriars (above), the to stronger resolution, under- to call all-out overflowing at an All Trades Unions Alli- stood for but 'didn't find ance meeting to hear a report-back on the great deal support' and OI Congress decisions. During the two-hour so withdrew it. meeting the question most urgently posed was surprised to find,' was alternative revolutionary leadership in the working class. All speakers empha- as it made sete out to bul as it made itself out to sized that the task trade main facing unionists today was the fight to force the Bress appears on patel Con- • Full report Tories out of office.

GEMERAL

CENERALO

ATUA

TODAY

GOLD

A special economics correspondent looks at the developments 'Behind the rise In the gold price.

PAGE 10

CHARTISM

PAGES 5, 6, 7 and 8 In another of our four-page Pageant specials we trace the history of Chartism— one of the episodes to be presented at the Empire Pool, Wembley, next Sun- day. See page 4.

FORD

ON PAGE 11

Our Industrial Staff assess how the strike movement at Ford's was betrayed. Be sure of seeing these vital and very Important articles for the whole labour and | trade union movement every day in

WORKERS PRESS

Contact circulation our Jepartment - Telephone 01-622 7029 — for a single copy or a subscription. In today's rapidly developing situation YOU can't afford to be without it.

Economic crisis defeats EEC Finance Ministers The moneymarkets GE 2 Workers Press, Tuesday Mar ING HUSSEIN of Jordan has con entences against Abu Daud, a lead atah commandos, and other Palestini ghters. Abu Daud was captured e lary with other Fatah members ay to the Israeli-occupied territories sistance against the Zionist invac rought before a secret military cou ours of his arrest and summarily : umped-up charges of plotting a ecurity. Abu Daud is one of the most proi nian resistance fighters. He was unders of Al Fatah and a membe olutionary council of the Palestini lovement. Hussein is the man who massacre nian guerrilla fighters in Septemb ake a rotten peace with Israel he estroying every Palestinian who sets ionism. At the same time his regis ally protests against the killing in wo US diplomats known to have p 1 the September 1970 massacre of Abu Daud and his comrades are to y the Royal butcher of Jordan in ord is ties with Washington and Tel Avi bour movement cannot remain silen f this new crime against the Arab re ocialist Labour League demands ti nd unconditional release of omrades and an end to the reign of alestinians in Jordan. Action is urgent to save the li nti-imperialist fighters. Resolutions a rotest should be sent to the Jordan Upper Philimore Gardens, London

MARCH FUND

VOW STANDS

AT £49.90 • MUST not sit back on the ccess of last month's Fund.

I's press ahead, now with this onth's fight-help us raise a cord amount. Thousands of trade unionists bled the TUC yesterday manding they call a General rike to force the Tory govern- ent to resign. Feeling is pidly growing throughout the rking class for an all-out fight ainst Tory policies. The serious dollar crisis which kept the money markets sed can only result in even eater attacks being launched ainst the working class. The time to fight is now. Use orkers Press to mobilize busands of workers and youth come to our anti-Tory rally d Pageant a! the Empire Pool xi Sunday, March 11. Our per must be the centre of this uggle to bulld this revolu- nary party. Never has there been such a litical situation. So raise as uch as you can for our monthly peal Fund. Start today. Post I donations Immediately to: Workers Press March Appeal Fund 1862 Clapham High Street, London, SWA 7UG пИШНИ 01-622 7029 01-720 2000 sday March 6, 1973

BY: JOHN SPENCER

FOREIGN exchange markets will be closed all this week as Finance Ministers of the capi- talist countries hold a series of control: Finance The completely out possible • secono bueser of meetings in a desperate Ministers are paralysed by the enormity British capitalists, having thrown in Market their lot with the Common attempt to patch up what they Plans for joint European float endoves to car me curoscan work all agree can only be a tem- against the dollar foundered on opposi- ers will have no option but to toe what- still facing line is laid down by West Germany France and Italy: ever porary and unstable solution National As- the secono ouno

OILS

allu riducc to the monetary crisis. sembly election, the Gaullist govern- The lack of any other way out lor preferred leave the internationally must ment to the employers The Common Market Finance confirmed death for this speed up the on-going fight trom paper aoeyance Ministers had to Al admit defeat The made leader of the by money, 1a1aS. contrast, Ane escons belng ariven Into after seven hours of talks on Sun- clear they had no confidence in the idea skulls capitalists everywhere * ralestinian resistance early in Feb- of a joint float and instead put forward gold The metal that only has value. day. They could find no 'European while his on towards wey previousiy solution" to the crisis. organize a joint float by easy stages. most sought-after commodities territores tney sup- oti He "Sunday was And, Telegraph' put the which Tory and with foreign exchanges closed as the within 24 it on March 4: "The really worrying Barber wanted Chancellor Anthony the gold price must rise.

thing about this crisis is that the cur- taking part in a Joint The *Financial Times' yesterday against state experts appear to be running out float. expressed the growing fear in capitalist of solutions. These included that each country be of world Culla oc rates have been tried, they allowed to enter the arrangement at al the most prominent Pales- UD week succession worked in time unti their time aceptable monetary crises had by and large left among THe was over. Then floating, in the teeth of should have the 'unimpaired right' Governments trade unaffected. member of the re- violent opposition, became acceptable consultations with change its rate after and central banks cobbled and mended Palestinian liberation and even respectable. there must be in the hope that enough

1 WU-LICIS

SUD•

cucio lal time could of far- cropped up and were financial support most gained to work out a new and lasting secuenty massacred: the Pales- absorbed. Now with everyone either reaching kind', all nine countries sup- syolcill September 1970: To floating or two-tiering, next?' 'without limits what their partners underestim- They have consistently The and he bent on conditions ated magnitude of the in- situalion nOW unce lan the lorces States 'United without obligation to repay'.

the speed at which wno sets out to. resist even - Ene his regime hypocriti- ment is divided what action These demands course, quite More important likely should support. Dr Khartoum of Arthur Burns, the even they Unan nave tssacree or Pales a part position appreciate conredeace. The latest crisis has dem no there limit latter Palestinians. favours a rapid return to fixed currency face of its 'partners' The fears a joint European he want sterling firmly tied to their own murdered WC lave

CUSC

float would involve precisely in order to put significant, ar

CULLLLUI

CULLCLCICS

TOlS rarucularly US end

CADOTT OI

to Tne Tracio aventares world detrimental to US interests British employers gain by their creep- but there rising in price, main silent in the face On the other hand, Treasury Secre- devaluation. le Arab revolution. The Telecon- tary 'Schultz Thev will least the flight out sces 10 reason certalny nol bebrebarcl start of a States should not to bleed their own reserves white mney [which] does affect industry and waw lne Abu Daud his iccept a Common Market float which support sterling, but will instead force consumer directly' the reign of terror against le think: would be a step savagely Tory government to adopt world trade it savs. Luwais a 411C Torear to has become a real one, and it calls on More ce dea systell. demorar sonces. Cost of the joint float onto the backs of the disagreement in Washington 'ensure tres nivec o Trese governments when solutions and letters of mirrors British working class. and run- markets open oincially again, the atmos Jordanian Embassy, through background to the mea- and hysteria is banished 11lllk Incialida

1S LIC

плете от тет W8. class. system is now sures Barber will announce today and once and for all'. Sure CriSIS

•T ITS

This, the Finance Ministers' demonstra. ted, powers 1c now bevono the of any or group of have asserted themselves against all efforts to keep them in check. are now driving the system 1uCy THE RULING Gaullist over the Inexora recession collapse the bulk world Party in France faces desperate struggle over why gold rose in price • See page 10. the coming week to save support among sections of the its government majority midale class. Rapid increases in and after a sharp swing to the prices attacks standards have left in the first round of •coverment the election. wide. This hatred has been fuelled The Popular Front of democratic Pompidou's contempt for Communist, Socialist and rights, expressed that Left Radical Parties won 47 under cecacion circumstances would he tolerate per of the poll com- a left cabinet under him.

38 per pared with cent for This open threat to dissolve the Gaullists and their allies.

the National The rest went to presidential powers and rule by centre parties and revisionist decree has created a situation of conflict THE CEYLONESE United Left rrance groups. EUD ADIV, a former Israeli Despite trencher 1TS Front Mrs government Everything now hangs on the Stalinist and reformist leaders the paratrooper on trial Haifa, second due held working class is pressing forward Israel, charged with espionage, Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her . ballot, said the and next Sunday, March 11. For sabotage pro-Moscow Stalinists and ex- this ballot, en almos acerable all candidates who By the big receved huge vote for were Pabloite Lanka Sama Samaja polled less than 10 per cent in working-class parties, taught them more. demonstrated its the first round are eliminated.

Party allies are seeking to detence speech vesterdav he sald Pompidou's threats. abolish every last vestige of This eliminates candi- gone challenging to syria to turtner workers dates of the three the Middle East revolution.

the Gaullist regime while their Press freedom on the island.

Organisation leaders continue to peddle соп- He submitted evidence in They are attempting to force Antenaonasce illusions, proclaim political testament Ouvrière and Ligue Communiste, Fifth AssemDly loyalty Inel Tine none of whom achieved the neces- the Press Council Bill which was self public and keep the rank and file as communist with drawn up last summer. sary poll. Marxist-Leninist world in check. Under their electoral the If this Bill becomes law, pact surviving members of the Unior reporing or government aeDales.

of the Left stand down decisions committee discus- will sions will be allowed. favour of whichever of their at all could be dones ceceosa veces e And no news the first round.

MUTUAL

FUNDS,

by printed until it was dassed of This Bri- goes some covernment. controler colnc way lo ove- built-in disadvantage tish unit trusts, are in deep being no critical of the coming. the trouble result of the to the as contrary peavily welzns me ruca sucilical Street Republic's voting system Wall mutua fund boom sales ey favour of the Gaullists. But at share prices and the fear of a ceeded redemptions power. stock market collapse. $3,000m. impossible pre- will be Last year the funds paid out One of the worst-hit funds,

CHCE

the result of round two. more to shareholders who Enterprise, had its IRAN has assets announced 65,000 record their hold- shrink from $750m wanted to redeem in 1968 of over million 1he powertul movement to tne Duaret around $423m at the for left in France is symptomatic end T12s REof the by ing new shares fresh 1972. coming year. The Shah's govern- extreme tension created The plans to spend 28 per cent customers. fate of these funds in ment in Europe. economic Cuss the the reflects not the difierence amounted to United States foreshadows OniU andulcelo future for the working class for the Gaullist over $1,700m. Only, five. years similar. British turning. Iran into. one of, the Gaullist of the unit trusts. strongest military powers.

but the loss of ago, at the height ichilllc,

Making Pageant music

PAGEANT DIARY

·1 The Road to Workers Power Pop can

INTERVIEW BY STEPHEN JOHNS

Vic Brox, secretary of the Manchester musicians' co-operative 'Music Force', play a believes passionately that modern and pop music must play a vital role in the vital revolutionary struggle of the working class. role in He also says that the left, the unions and even the Musicians' Union have failed utter- ly to realize the enormous contribution 'pop workers' culture' can maké to the fight for socialism.

Vic is talking about not the stereotyped sound mostly the Churned

OUL

record MOnotones struggles expression-generally of revolt, dis- Teal satisfaction, defiance hope-most serious popular music-makers strive for. After ten years as a proressional bana leader singer, player and composer in Britain and abroad Vic says the natural tendency is for pop and rock musicians to abhor the svstem.

Like actors, they suffer from super-exploitation. To live in the commercial world they often have to abandon any search for original expression and take up music lobs thev hate.

Even the successful are swallowed by the record- entertainment machine and live eventually blighted despairing lives, when all they want to do is play and audience-the unle Right: nasses of youth who see in por music something struggle of their very own emotions and desires MusIC Because of these views, Vic and a dedicated clans struggle for his own ex- band of northwest pop musicians have spurned pression freedom from ex. naturally come to. where expression 'Music Forcé' in gether. without the crippling effect of money and profit. during rehearsals. et are so bands and eney or so bands they hope soon to start their

OWE

company and record label.

Vic has thrown his weight behind the Pageant because he thinks he and his friends have something vital to add to the *Road to Workers' Power. His does not only regret is that he have time to provide more music and songs that the re- creation of working-class history so obviously needs. Vic told me why he was join- ing the Pageant campaign.

'We are a group of bands who have come coremier committee and formed an organ- ization we hope can give us freedom and

LO UCYCIOD

play the music we want. 'We have started as agency, but must get our own companv and record label going.

We have run music sessions at the Halsworth Hall, Manchester that lave veel a greal success. At Mr Smiths on Sunday we have an evening devoted to pro- gressive music.

MISTAKE

'In the past the working-class all art forms that come the tres hen discos and large chunks movement has ignored the of TV. the group or from the Most ing class are growth music. This is a functional. Most the groups his decline starts. ger is no use, They it has lantasuc mistake becaust "The successful ones, once they are work re class. MUsU an enormous amount to offer.

have that spark and excitement have got over the initial flush to get through to their audiences 'Most of the people I know of fame, want to start to develop and rock would be sym- in pop and express themselves, but this appears to me that what is generally not possible. Records workine-Ciass and than want more anything you left-wing politics. Many come work strictly to a formula.

These away the blind- from the working-class anyway cust 110 people become blighted, frustra- the the middle- snowbeople reall ted, when popularity come rom ana of society. Pop and rock really drgpy their life is ose hitter ed.

cass. but tney great role this. play with deep dissatisfaction wrecked. often Call angry their This, iS orkers Power is all about.

is what society though they none Cone to completely in. Because of the environment, political. drugs become part, peculiar think many of the more

RESPONSIVE

part, or pop culture. conscious workers look down on ist thajorty end u have thr musician. He has long pop majority he's rich and 'Musicians could be very res- Hall allu hate in dide or cabaret. Bu like flamboyant. is rubbish. ponsive elements in this process. We cap litan the or "rip off" as They have to be responsive: it's hate-in cabaret. call it trade, is just W C do? either oi their work. It one per- You vale When wart group begins i was in to play Tantasoc. do it, or you don't eat. double the will tempo, rest like this. You only pulled about a week. doesn't need be can see the change on are good That's nothing when musicians for example.

YOU

pop wrought sider tne expenses involvea. Ivow 'The obiect of the music in I get about £10 a week and this among the young in society the "Road to Workers'. Power" big companies is common. It's the rule not the the hands is to highlight the drama, make excennon. it Clearer. make it more exores "The successful ones, too, end valve and often quite reactionary.

sive and attractive by songs and in hole. They up are steam- 'But at basis, it is an incidental music. expres- rollered by the companies.

sion of upheaval. It time this 'In the short space of time have The heir talent 1s crushed ano alla writter TWo squeezed into the package they rock was grasped. It is a very • Hymn "This is Chartist The all- powerful communicate. want. monopolies way Marching where al c powerful. they the record call it an

OWI

1 you can Lne Chartists Sund ovously companies, own radio franchises, a very functional, art form, their determination to stand and Workers Press, Tue fight for the Charter. The other song is the "Ballad of the Peter- 1oo Martyrs". 'This describes the scene as the people go from all the out- lying towns to St. Peter's Fields, Manchester, to hear Hunt.

'Now this is a ballad because I don't think anyone expected the massacre that occurred. It was really a great outing, work- families their ing-class with children in their best going . to listen to one of their heroes.

The last verse will com- memorate their deaths and show that they did not die in vain, because Peterloo led to some developments in the . enormous working-class movement. 'I do some incidental music as a chant when well and the coming out of the workers are factories to hear the Chartists -a teature of this is the cry "Pull them out, pull them out" This refers to the workers at Stalybridge who pulled out the plugs on the iron furnaces to back the Chartists. "This is the kind of stuff I am doing. I hope I can do more later. I think•- the kind of struggle in the "Road to storkers Powe Power" and the musi- cian's struggle for his own ex- pression and freedom from exploitation naturally come together.' Press, Tuesday March 6, 1973 PAGE 3

BY DAVID MAUDE

LABOUR CORRESPONDENT

A MAJORITY of London's 12,000 dockers will be asked tomorrow to accept a £2.60 pay offer-but to withdraw co-operation with flexible manning arrangements and mobility of labour. This recommendation will be made at a mass meeting of the 8,000 men from London's enclosed dock. It has the support of their 18-man lay delegates' committee. Port employers have said they will not pay the offered increase if co-operation is withdrawn, so after months of hesitation and delay the scene is apparently be- ing set for a quayside confron- tation.

PHASE TWO

On the recommendation of tered men on wharves have accepted an offer of £2.22 plus 4 per cent on bonus rates. The capital's 1,500 tally clerks are being asked to accept a £2.70 increase. And the enthusi- asm with which the officials will non-co-operation in support these circumstances is open to question. The employers say their en- closed docks offer—£2.60 plus 4 per cent on the differentials paid to workers, ship crane drivers and others-is the limit the Tories will allow them to pay under Phase Two of their pay-control laws. At a meeting last week, union officials asked them to look again at the new rate at which they propose to pay sick benefit. But the officials' recommendation tomorrow will not be conditional on an employers' reply on this point.

DEVLIN

The action the dockers' lea- ders proposing are involves another Phase Two-Phase Two of the Devlin 'modernization' scheme for the docks. It was under clause 12 of the Green Dock agreement result- ing from Phase Two that the docks unions committed their members to flexible manning and mobility of labour. If tomorrow's meeting does re- fuse to co-operate with clause 12, it could mean a big increase in gang strengths. Dockers would be able to insist on 12 men per gang for discharging and 13 for loading. But the employers are already attempting frighten to the dockers with the threat that such steps could once again threaten the future of the South American and New Zealand meat trades in the port. By refusing to lead a straight fight with the Tory pay laws, the officials and lay delegates may be preparing their own defeat.

PAGE 4

Workers Press, Tuesday March 6, 1973

A POLICY

TO MEET

THE CRISIS

THE TORY government is relentlessly pursuing its plan for a con- frontation with the working class. Each day new sections of workers are forced to become criminals — under Tory law - to detend their standard of living against government-inspired soaring cost of living. Large sections of these workers openly acknowledge that the only answer to their fight to maintain a decent standard of living is a General Strike. That is, the creation of the industrial and political conditions which will force the government to resign.

be banded and fully exposed. The In its place must be elec.

guaranteed. This can only be done by breaking the grip Tory ted of the adminis- government a of capitalist ownership on the tration in this sphere must be which is pledged by the mass Employed economy. and published. All rights to assem- action of the working class to employed must unite to insist bly, free speech and the Press implement socialist policies.

Labour must be guaranteed. We say "Dedged to socialist tionalizing the main industries knowing that the pre- policies 5) The right to a higher stan- workers sent leaders of the Labour control and without compen- dard of living. It is not the ment have a maccau sation. living standards of trade policies. naeer. The struggle must begin the last analysis some of unionists, but the profit sys- will be now. No closures, no sackings, prepared to join a coali- crisis. Lell. Win causes Une must be the policy of the trade tion government with the Tories The first step must be …to ex- to head off the working class.

Occupation of fac- propriate all the great fortunes strong enough to ookie the Tories working, class tories threatened with closure, of the out IT The rich, close down the as part of the fight to bring Stock Exchange, place a state down the Tories. 1s strong to deal control over all movements of with own une Gators

"ITS

capital in and out of the midst. This can only be achieved 3) The right democratic by: exposing them in the fight for country. strike and to organize in trade Nationalization of the basic socialist poncy. Only the organized unIons. industries and of all large com- The Central Committee of the working class can lead man- panies, banks, building and in- Socialist League calls kind out of the historical upon the working surance societies will provide to sup- crisis. Every the right and every the following policies unified resources for gain won by the working class, to improve the living Ulte works cass asainst plan the Tories and the present every democratic right in Bri- standards of the whole people.

Wilson-Feather leadership of the has been tain, because Won Workers' control of these, as the labour movement: organized strength of the present national- well as the Here is the policy which the unions and the strike ized industries, will run them next Labour government must weapon. in the interests of the workers be forced to carry out. A Labour government must and consumers immediately repeal the Indus- Again, the fight must begin I) A Labour government must This fight tria Relations Act. control state wages immediately repeal the Indus- forcing the must begin now by must be answered by the most trial Relations Act, Housing IUC to break off all relations Finance Act, Immigration Acts, widespread fight for wage in- the with and creases meet rises Fair Trading Act and all wage working mobilize the class to standards. improve and This control. Atter the repeal of all destroy state control of wages means a fight to remove the Tory anti-working class lica- Tory government and change sures, there must be legislation 4) The right to defend rights the union leadership implement the Charter won in the past and change Basic Rights, along the follow- All the changes the system. 6) The right to health and wel- ing lines. legal procedures made by the fare benefits. Every Tory gov- 2) The right to work! Capital- Tory ernment cut in welfare bene- government must ism demands mass unemploy- pealed. All secret police and fits, health service and in the ment. The right to a job must MIS organizations must be dis- in all public spending I would like information about

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Name... Address. be revoked. On the basis of the Common Market plans for nationalization, dictatorship. a crash pro- gramme of expansion of ser- Withdraw all British troops vices to the unemployed, the from abroad and disband the low-paid, the sick and the aged present standing army. be undertaken must as an Sign all ex- absolute priority. The working treaties with and Labour colonial for class the countries pro- govern- ment must take immediate and grammes of equal trade and for absolute responsibility mutual assistance, these victims of the capitalist Break from NATO and all system. imperialist alliances. For the carrying out of such 7) The right to decent housing.

policies the SLL fights for the Decent housing is not a luxury; of Councils of setting up it is necessity. People have Action to lead the struggle the right decent basic to the Tory government against accommodation at rents they in These Councils every area. can afford. Nationalization of trade unionists, unite tenants, the handful of building mono- unemployed, all political par- polies and building societies tendencies of ties and the will provide the basis for a working class (Labour Party, massive of programme new Party,

SLL,

IS, Communist house building. The disgraceful IMG, etc.) to fight against the problem of the homeless in main enemy, the Tory govern- the cities must be immediately ment. solved by census and taking- The SLL calls upon every of all unoccupied pro- socialist and class-conscious perty. worker to consider this pro- and manifesto gramme very 8) The international respon- carefully, and to decide now to sibilities of the working class.

their inescapable re- take up The working class is interna- sponsibilities. The building of tional. We fight for the un- the revolutionary party is the restricted right of any worker burning question now, not in of any nationality to move some remote future. The SLL freely through the world. is determined to carry through Withdraw the troops from its transformation into a re- Unite the Irish Ireland. and volutionary party. British working class to throw We appeal to all readers out the Lynch and Heath gov- of the Workers Press and ernments. our supporters to join the Unite in the struggle for the Socialist United States of

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THE RISE OF

THE CHARTISTS

BY JANE BROWN

Chartism began as a based on movement straightforward demands for political democracy. But every refusal by the government to grant such forced demands the working class to debate revolutionary issues, to develop the movement accept defeat. Friedrich Engels found the English working class in a ferment of political activity, groping its way forward • with the aid of bitter experience.

'At the moment Chartism is in a state of flux,' he wrote in 1844. 'Chartism has shaken off those supporters who regarded it as a purely political move- ment. The result is that today significant feature the Chartism lies in its social aims.

And it is this aspect of Chart- which must inevitably ism develop in the future. It can- not be long before Chartism moves towards socialism? But such an immense poli- tical leap could not be accom- plished overnight. There was nothing inevitable about it.

the intervention of Only socialist theorists, such as Marx, and Engels himself, could launch a socialist party and direct the mass movement towards a successful socialist revolution. This intervention was not the late 1840s, made until when Chartism was no longer a mass movement. In the mean- time, Chartism struggled pain- fully to overcome its internal contradictions and to find a way out of the blind alley of reformism. By doing so, it prepared the the independent way working-class party and social- ist politics of the future. All the rich experience it handed succeeding generations on to is assimilated in the fight to build the revolutionary party today. "The Chartist epoch is im- mortal by reason of the fact that for the space of ten years it gave us in a compressed and diagrammatic form apparently the whole gamut of proletarian struggle - from petitions to armed insurrection. 'All the basic processes of the class movement of the proletariat ... were not only crystallized in practice out of the Chartist movement, but also found in it their answers in principle. Theoretically the are far from being answers water-tight, ends are not always joined together ... If may resort to a risky one comparison, and may say that the Chartist movement 1s like a prelude which gives in an undeveloped form the musical theme of the whole opera. In the British sense pro- letariat may and must see in the Charter not only its past but also its future? ('Where is Britain Going?' Leon Trotsky.

New Park Publications.) The People's Charter was drafted in May 1838, by a London cabinet maker named William Lovett. In the past years, Lovett had been ten involved in various political activities. As a democrat, he believed that every man has the right to vote, and he had put forward the case helped for Universal Suffrage during The presentation to the House of Com the debate over parliamentary reform, 1831-1832. The 1832 Reform . Act fell a long way short of his hopes.

It gave the vote only to sec- tions of the middle class. But Lovett found other causes to to, such as campaigning turn against the Stamp Act (which made newspapers too expen- sive for workers to buy), and Owen's supporting Robert schemes for "co-operative' pro- duction. If workers were to win political power, they must become self-reliant. In 1836 Lovett got together with other skilled craftsmen to found the London Working Men's Association. Its aim was to educate workers so that they would become fit to on political respon- take and would earn the sibilities, respect of parliament. The People's Charter set out the organization's political simply. It programme very consisted of six points, all of which the LWMA intended to win by peaceful, constitutional were: universal means. These manhood suffrage, vote by ballot, payment of MPs, annual equal electoral parliaments, districts and the abolition of ha e of Commons of the Chartists' Second Nation the property qualification for MPs. The last five points were necessary if the first one was to give workers any say in parliament. Unless voting took place by ballot, poor men would be bribed when choos- ing MPs. Unless MPs were paid, no working man would be able to give up his job in order to stand for election.

Unless parliaments were re- elected every year, they would soon get out of touch with the voters' wishes. Unless electoral districts were re- organized, so that each MP represented approximately the same number of voters, the interests of country gentlemen would continue to outweigh those of workers in densely populated towns. Unless the qualification property was abolished, only rich men would entitled to stand for election. All these arguments were logical, and not very original.

Ever since the doctrine of the Rights of Man had been developed by 18th century philosophers and embodied in the French Revolution of 1789, and educated middle class working-class reformers had been arguing out the same questions. Some middle-class Radicals of had been scared off by the Workers Press, Tue nd National Petition In 1842.

William Lovett, a London cabinet maker who drafted 'The People's Charter' In May, 1838. response to their enormous demands from industrial wor- during economic kers, the depression of 1815-1820. But many others hoped to harness working-class strength in their own interests. Although the LWMA was determined not to be domin- ated by middle-class leadership, it did not reject the assistance of Radical MPs. Indeed, the original plan was for six LWMA members to draft a political programme in con- sultation with six MPs, who would then win support for the programme in parliament.

The joint committee did not work very well. Radical MPs Press, Tuesday March 6, 1973

PAGE 5

DORE PICS

had more important interests than dabbling in working-class politics. So in the end, Lovett took over the job of writing the People's Charter himself.

As he jotted down the familiar demands for representative government, his imaginary audience consisted of the Radical MPs, and the 200 or so LWMA members. He cer- tainly never foresaw that his Charter would become the manifesto of the first national working-class movement, and that, within a few months, it would have a following of millions. Why was the Charter taken up by the working class, and transformed in a manner its author never intended? This can only be understood in terms of earlier history, and the economic and social conditions in 1838. As Lovett's career illustrates, workers had been involved in politics for many years before the need for an independent working-class political organ- ization was realized. Very large numbers took part in Radical movements at the end of the French wars, culminating in the Peterloo Massacre of 1819.

At Peterloo, 11 workers died The Chartists, continued on page 6.

PAGE 6 Workars Pross, Tuaaday March Last weekend the leams of actors, worker The Chartists, continued from page 5. when soldiers charged into a peaceful Reform meeting. Ban- ners carried by the reformers on this occasion bore what were later to become Chartist demands. But the government made sure that no militant new organization emerged in the years after Peterloo. Speakers at the meeting were imprisoned, and the notorious Six Acts were passed in an attempt to stamp out working-class radi- calism altogether. Middle-class reformers raised a chorus of protest against such measures. They had not the slightest intention of giving votes to Lancashire weavers.

But they wanted their own industrial and commercial in- terests to be represented in parliament. "They are fools enough,' wrote a Tory cabinet minister scornfully, 'to think that they can overturn the administration with the help of the [working- class] Radicals ... The insane, however, can only play such a game and think of winning.'

The 1832 Reform Act was a great victory for the wealthy reformers, however. It ex- tended representation to the north of England, and estab- fairly high lished a uniform, (property qualification for vot- day March 6, 1873 ors, workers and youth met for their first joint r ing. As Engels commented in 1844: 'The rule of property is expressly recognized in the Reform Bill through the estab- lishment of property qualifica- tions. It is, of course, the middle class that really rules.'

working class The had played an important part in forcing the Reform Bill through reluctant parliament. Its mass demonstrations convinced MPs that it was too dangerous reform any longer. to delay But workers soon found they had gained nothing from the Act. The New Poor Law of 1834 The new Radical MPs were too busy campaigning for free trade and cuts in public spend- 'h, ing to bother about their former supporters. The Whig government of the 1830s was in its support of the as firm employers as any which had before, and its harsh come policies were resented as an act of betrayal. None caused more suffering than the New Poor Law of 1834. This Act was intended to cut back expenditure on relief. In future, only poor families which entered the parish workhouse might receive Irst joint rehearsal. A scene from the Pageant financial support. These 'Bas- tilles' (as they were soon nicknamed) were designed to be as unbearable to live in as possible, so that only the destitute would go totally there to escape starvation.

Workhouse food was meagre and inedible. No visitors were allowed, neither was drinking or smoking. Long hours of work went unpaid. Worst of all families were split up. The advantage of this particular punishment for poverty, as the Poor Law Commissioners saw it, was that it might check 'over-population' - the main cause of poverty, according to fashionable economists. New Poor Law hit The hardest at the industrial wor- kers of the north, who had relied heavily on relief under the old system, when periodic trade recessions threw them out of work. Even to the local authorities, it soon became obvious that enough 'Bastilles' couldn't be built to house all the unemployed. Workers rammed the point home, by attacking the houses and pro- perty of those who tried to implement the new law and by burning workhouses to the ground. Another question which roused workers' passion was the need for factory laws to po • Pageant rehearsal: A group of Chartists interru regulate hours and conditions thi 'Short-time' work. of com- mittees of factory workers sprang up in dozens of towns, to support the Tory MP Sadler's attempt to shorten the working day. But the concessions in the 1833 Factory Act did not amount to much. Hours of labour were restricted to . 48 a week for children under 13, and 69 a week for those aged 13-18. Four factory inspectors were appointed to make sure that these regulations were obeyed! Immediately a campaign for a ten-hour day for adult workers was launched. Its Whig fiercest opponents were and Radical believers in the 'free' , unregulated economy. These gentlemen were equally hostile to the trade union movement which developed after the repeal of the Com- bination Laws in 1825. Trade societies had existed secretly for years, but many now large "general' unions of miners and spinners builders, into existence. Owen's came Grand National Consolidated Trade Union was an attempt unite all workers in one to union, in order to revolutionize society from below. Employers had the full sup- port of the government when Ists interrupt a church service and proceed to they systematically broke the general unions, by refusing to employ workers who would not sign 'the document' — a pledge to never join a trade union. In 1834 the government it- self stepped in, to prosecute the "Tolpuddle martyrs' — six Dorset farm labourers who had "illegal oaths' in com- taken bining to form a union. Their fate-seven years' transporta- tion-was threat to every a trade unionist. It demonstrated the futility of trying to change society 'from below' political power lay hands of the employing class.

In 1838 economic conditions turn for the took a sharp The following years of worse. industrial bad harvests and depression produced the con- ditions which Engels describes in 'The Condition of the Working Class in England'.

The factory worker's life was one of perpetual insecurity. At one time he would be slaving for 16 hours a day. The next week he might have no work to go to. Wages were kept low by unemployment and the use and children to women operate machines. Cut-throat competition be- tween manufacturers led to terrible safety hazards, such unfenced machinery and as

March 6, 1973

PAGE 6

Workers Pres weekend the teams of actors, workers and youth met for their first joint rehearsal. A scene from the Pageant rehearsal: A group of Chartists interrupt a church service and proceed to conduct their own meeting.

aod to conduct their own meeting.

even the cleaning of machinery while motion. escaped mutilation, condemned still of heary bost con tons heat, dust, ventilation. Fergus O 'Connor, after Lovett's politics in 1840. Conditions outside the tory were equally As industrial and trebled in population with- decades, tew building or sanitary were enforced. aning of machinery while old were If workers fell into Over- ones tilation, they were crowding reached terrifying to ill-health proportions, so that in some abour in conditions families rented cases mere and corner of a room shared with poor others. In Manchester alone 21,000 families inhabited cellars be- low level, and 7,000 street more found shelter each night in the packed dormitories of common lodging houses. Others were turned away, even here. Engels reported living on Little conditions Ireland' one of the older areas of central 'Here Manchester: lie two groups of about 200 cottages, most of which are built on the back-to-back principle. Some 4,000 people, mostly Irish, inhabit this slum.

The very small, •old cottages are dirty, while the and streets are uneven, partly paved, not properly drained, and full of ruts. Heaps of refuse, offal and sickening filth are everywhere who took interspersed with pools • Chartist Executive liquid. The stagnant atmos- abandonment of phere is polluted by the thick smoke factory of a dozen s outside the fac- chimneys inhabitants 'The live in unhealthy. doubled the win- cities dilapidated cottages, in population with- dows of which are broken and ecades, no house- patched with oilskin. The doors and door posts are broken and sanitary regulations sed. New houses rotten. The creatures who in- habit these dwellings and even their dark wet cellars, and who live confined amidst all this filth and foul air-which can- not be dissipated because of the surrounding lofty buildings - must surely have sunk to the lowest level of humanity?

But the horrifying conditions in cities such as Manchester had another side: "The workers begin to feel themselves members of a homo- They genous social group. realize that, although they are weak as individuals, they are strong if united ... In this way the great cities are the birthplace of the working-class movement.' William Lovett wrote the Charter. But it was the workers of the industrial cities who crested the Chartist movement.

During the summer of 1838, great meetings were held in the Midlands and the north, to endorse the Charter and collect signatures for a petition to be presented to parliament demanding that the Six Points should become law. Nothing less could save un- employed factory workers from the work-house, or poverty- stricken hand-loom weavers from slow starvation. Hunger drove workers to take up the central question of political power. Only a workers' gov- ernment would pass laws to help the working class. Over 100,000 people gathered on Kersal Moor, from Man- chester and surrounding towns, to hear the Chartist, Stephens.

He told them: "This question of universal suffrage was a knife-and-fork • question after all This question was a bread-and-cheese ques- tion... And if any man asked him what he meant by univer- sal suffrage, he would answer that every working man in the land had a right to have a good coat on his back, a comfortable abode in which to shelter him- family, a good self and his dinner upon his table, and no more work than was necessary keeping him in health, for and as much wages for that work as would keep him in plenty ..? (Tremendous cheers). In 1839 the Chartists sum- moned a National Convention, to be attended by delegates from all parts of the country.

The Convention was to meet in London at the same time as the Chartist petition was pre- sented, and to decide what measures to take if the petition was rejected by parliament.

Even before the Convention met, it was obvious that there would be deep divisions within it. Moderate, fairly well-off workers as William such Lovett, saw the winning of the right to vote as a moral issue.

that they Men must show deserved the vote, by using only constitutional means to obtain it, including co-opera- tion with Radicals MPs. In opposition to such 'moral force men were the 'physical force' leaders of poorer workers, such as Stephens and Fergus O'Connor, owner of the 'Northern Star' newspaper. They knew the government would not yield | to rational persuasion. 'Ulterior O'Connor thought they might give way the and legislate Charter if they could be fright- ened into believing that a revo- lution the alternative. was Other leaders, such as George Harney, wanted to go further not than mere bluff. They wanted to make working-class revolu- tion a reality. 1839 Convention At the these basic differences were thrashed out. Everyone agreed that the single-issue protest politics of the 1830s had led A national working- nowhere class political organization was needed. But what would its aims be, beyond the purely political programme of the and Charter? The debate became most Workers Press, Tu heated when it came to dis- cussing 'ulterior measures' which should be adopted if the government rejected the peti- tion. Quite a number of dele- gates supported the policy of a General Strike, and it was actually decided upon at one stage, only to be voted down a week later. Lovett managed to convince himself that General Strike was not 'force'.

But other moderates, such as Thomas Attwood of the Birm- ingham Political Union, with- drew from the Convention in disgust. Opposition to the strike also from left-wing came Chartists, who saw that would lead inevitably to an insurrection. It was necessary with planning the to get on revolution immediately-other- wise the Charter was a lost cause. George Harney suggested that people should elect their own representatives at the next election and then march London to force candidates. accept 'Let there be no blinking the question. These are not the times to be nice about mere words: the fact is that there is but one mode of obtaining the Charter, and that is by insurrection. The Chartist petition, with its 1.25 million signatures, was rejected by 287 to 49 votes.

The House of Commons voted against even debating its con- tents, let alone making them law. Confusion within the Convention became greater than ever. Some delegates wanted it to become a Pro- visional Government. Others felt it should be dissolved, SO that the discussion of 'ulterior measures' could be taken back into the regions and a decision made later. Workers But in the north and in South Wales, which had elec- ted most of the 'physical force' delegates, workers were on the move. Roused by parliament's arrogant attitude, and by their plight, desperate economic thousands joined strikes and demonstrations. The leadership of the inflammatory 'Northern Star' rose to over 50,000—an its astonishing figure, given high price and the low level of literacy in the working class.

In Monmouthshire, iron work- ers and coal miners collected weapons and began to plan what they hoped would be a national uprising to overthrow the government. John Frost, the Newport delegate, returned to Wales to find these preparations already under way. He had little choice in taking over the leadership uprising, planned of the for November 3. On the night of November 2, three bodies of men set out to march on Newport starting from Blackwood, Nantyglo and Pontypool. Some were armed muskets, others with with homemade pikes, pitchforks and staves. Anyone who re- sisted their progress was press- ganged into joining the ranks. partly due to the continuous, drenching rain, and partly to "rests' frequent public at refused to obey Men houses. their 'officers' , and eventually only two of the three columns reached Newport, at 8.30 a.m.

in the morning, instead of un- der cover of darkness, as had been planned. Meanwhile the authorities had had time to prepare. One detachment of soldiers guarded the work-house. Another group concealed themselves in the Westgate Hotel, at the centre of the town, where the mayor had also taken up his position.

The Chartists approached the hotel, demanding the re- some of their com- lease of had been arrested. rades who They found their way into the building and tried to smash the door of the room down Press, Tuesday March 6, 1973 PAGE 7 where the mayor and the soldiers were hiding. Then the order was given to fire on the crowd, both inside and outside the hotel. Within 15 minutes, the Chartists had been routed.

Walters, a Caerphilly Char- tist, later described the scene: •I was one of the young tel- lows that used the hatchets against the big • door of the Hotel. We broke Westgate through and reached the pass- age beyond. The red-coats were firing through the pass- age at the wild throng in the road, and we were in the midst of fire, smoke and awful cries.

I and the daring ones How escaped I do not know. In the fight in the passage I happened to look down, and saw my hand covered with blood and my finger gone. It had been carried away by the bullets of the soldiers when I was using the hatchet.' Nine Chartists were shot dead. The three leaders of the uprising, Frost, Williams and Jones, were tried and sentenced to be hanged for high treason.

Though these sentences were commuted to transport for life, the case roused strong in the working-class feelings movement. The supporters of 'physical force' concluded that only a well-organized national upris- ing could succeed against the disciplined British army. Many 'moral force' Chartists were frightened right away from the movement they had founded.

For the government, the New- port uprising, together with disturbances in Birmingham, provided a golden opportunity to arrest as many Chartists as it could lay hands on. Over 500 went to prison, including William Lovett and Fergus O'Connor. The split between 'moral' and 'physical' force became final during the winter of 1839. In prison, Lovett wrote a book was virtually an aban- which donment of politics in favour of working-class education and 'self-improvement'. After his release in 1841, he founded an educational association, and a year later took part in confer- ences of the middle-class Com- plete Suffrage Union, led by Joseph sturge, a middle-class Quaker businessman. His days as a working-class leader were over. O'Connor now took control of the Chartist executive. From his prison cell, he launched the National Charter Association in 1840. A year later, he was released to find himself the hero of the industrial working class. The 'Northern Star' pub- lished what was to become Chartism's most popular song: The lion of freedom comes from his den, We'll rally around him again and again, We'll crown him with laurels our champion to be, O'Connor the patriot of sweet liberty. O'Connor's triumphant tour through the Midlands and the north • fanned his admirers to a white heat of enthusiasm.

Hopes for the success of the Charter were once again high.

By the spring of 1842, an- other massive petition had been •assembled, time this with three million signatures. A new Convention was summoned to try and resolve the difficulties and divisions which the last one had brought to light. If this petition failed, there could be no escaping the strength of 'ulterior measures' feeling for to force the Charter upon parliament. The debate in the House of Commons on the 1842 petition showed that MPs were alarmed by the upsurge of Chartism.

The Chartists warned: 'It is the legislation worst species of which leaves grievances of society to be remedied only by violence and revolution, both of which may be apprehended if complaints are unattended to . • The Chartists, continued on page 8.

0 Con or ensured had on supporters apersed peaceful march with the Pellion to Parliament. But when police reall PAGE 8 Workers Press, Tuesday March The Chartists, continued from page 7. But, contrary to O'Connor's expectations, threats of revo- lution produced a solid closing of ranks in the ruling class.

Even Radical MPs who the voted to give the petition hearing could scarcely disguise their hostility. Roebuck (one of the MPs who had encour- aged Lovett to produce the Peoples' Charter four years earlier!) denounced O'Connor as a 'malicious and cowardly demagogue'. "The surest way to prevent revolution was to listen to the complaints of the people' claimed Hume. This just about sums up the extent of positive for the Chartists support among the parliamentary 'left wing'. Whigs and Tories From a united onslaught came against the petition. Macaulay claimed that universal suffrage was 'utterly incompatible with upon the security of property'.

The Tory Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, saw the Charter as 'altogether an im- peachment of the constitution of this country and of the whole frame of society' These comments went to the heart of the matter. Industrial workers demanded the vote, but they saw political power merely as a means to an end.

For the ruling class, to legislate in 1842 would the Charter have been to legislate away the social and economic system from which their profits came.

Chartist petition The was voted down by 287 votes to 49.

As the news spread amongst the workers, to whom O'Con- nor had promised so much, their fury became uncontrol- lable. The debates of the Chartists Convention were brushed aside. Spontaneous strikes broke out in the Mid- lands and the north. Strikers marched from one town to the next, calling out new forces, and then pulling the plugs from the great steam boilers so that the bosses . would be without a source of power to restart production. In some were pitched towns there between strikers and battles troops. In others, the factory owners dared not resist the onrush of the General Strike.

The strikes began in early August. But it was not until August 16 that Chartist dele- met in Manchester to gates decide whether or not they approved of what was going on. William Cooper, a Leicester Chartist, describes his journey to Manchester through the strife-torn cities of the Black Country. After winning support for the Charter at mass meet- ings of strikers in Birmingham, Stafford and Stoke, he took from a train to Manchester Crewe. In the same train he met John Campbell, Secretary of the National Charter Asso- ciation. The two men could hardly believe their eyes as they approached Manchester and saw no smoke rising from factory chimneys. face changed, 'Campbell's and with an oath he said: "Not a single mill at work! Some- thing must come of this, and something serious too!"' such Lancashire Chartists, as Richard Pilling, had been at the forefront in organizing the General Strike. On August 12, a meeting of 358 factory delegates voted to make the Charter the main aim of their strike action, since only poli- tical change would put their economic aims in reach. On August 15, a similar meeting issued a call for a complete national stoppage. Chartists as- the When sembled in Manchester the next day, it is not surprising that the majority voted to give the strikes their full support.

As Cooper reports: 'There was nothing now but the physical force struggle to be looked for.

The Chartists must get the people out to fight, and they would be irresistible, if they day March 6, 1973 10,000 people gathered on Kennington ( O'Connor ensured that his supporters d were united.' Yet sections of the Chartist leadership hesitated, including some who had been leaders of the 'physical torce' wing. A General Strike would mean fighting. • The workers, tor all their militancy, were no match for trained and properly armed troops. O'Connor opposed Cooper's speech, on the grounds that the issue before the meeting was that of supporting strikes, not of making civil war. The 'Northern Star' out came strongly against the strikes.

Hesitancy at this stage was fatal. Within a few days, the Chartist leaders were back in prison. The great strike move- ment was left to die down isolated skirmishes amidst with soldiers, and the demoral- ization of hunger and defeat.

During the next few years, trade improved considerably.

There was less support for the politics of violence and des- peration and a revival of trade unionism and of factory reform committees. As a mass move- Chartism ment, never re- covered from the political re- treats of 1842. O'Connor retained much of his popularity. He used it to Utopian 'Land promote Plan', for factory settling workers on small farms, so that the pressure of over-population in the cities might be relieved.

£80,000 had By 1847, over in tiny subscribed, been amounts, for the purchase of land. Several estates were actually set up, before the pro- ject collapsed in bankruptcy.

In 1848, the "year of revo- lutions' on the continent of a brief Europe, Chartism_had revival. A third National Peti- launched, and tion was O'Connor bluffed his way into the leadership once again.

'I would rather die than give up one particle of the Charter,' he proclaimed. 'Our movement is a labour movement, origin- ated in the first instance by the fustian jackets, the un- shorn chins, and the blistered hands... I would not give a nnington Common in 1848 to march with the Pe porters dispersed peacefully.

fig for the Charter if we were not prepared with a solid social • take the place of system to the artificial one which we mean to destroy; and it was good that we did not succeed earlier with the Charter, be- were ready with the fore we new social system ..• But there was not a word on the methods to be used in the destruction of the old system. Nor was confidence in O'Connor's 'new system', the widespread Land Scheme, amongst other Chartist leaders.

O'Connor merely responded, in his speeches, to what he felt his audience required.. His demagogy had become less con- vincing as the years went by.

On April 10, 1848, a huge demonstration was planned to march with the Petition to parliament. About 10,000 people gathered on Kennington Common. But O'Connor had no intention of defying police warnings that the demonstra- tors would not be allowed to cross the Thames bridges. He himself in his showed true colours by pleading with his supporters to disperse peace- fully, and bundling the Peti- tion off to parliament in a hired cab. Later, when the Home Secre- warned that the force tary guarding Westminster Bridge would be maintained as long as necessary, O'Connor grovel- lingly replied: Not a man should be taken away. The quite government have been right. I told the [Chartist] Con- vention that if they had been government they never the would have allowed such a meeting.' Soon, the Third Peti- tion was a favourite object of ridicule in ruling-class circles.

But Chartism, after all its great struggles, represented more than merely the reputa- tion of Fergus O'Connor. The of the Chartist later years movement, from 1846 onwards, emergence of new saw the leaders and new ideas which out-lived O'Connor's disgrace, and were to be carried forward into the future of the British labour movement. towards so- The transition cialism, which Engels had pre- dicted in 1844, was under way.

O'Connor's In opposition to ith the Petition to Parliament. But when police Land Plan, some Chartists proposed the nationalization of the land. The private owner- ship of property was being called increasingly into ques- tion. "The people must see that their inalienable right to pro- perty prevails; the proceeds of the land should be public and used in the interests of the public ... if the people can- obtain that which they not need in a law, they must get it without law' (Article in the 'Northern Star' , October 1847). This was a long way from William Lovett and his Six Points of 1838! Chartism was also making theoretical advances on an- other front. In 1846, George involved Harney became in founding the Society of Frater- • nal Democrats, an internation- alist body based in London.

Articles on workers' strug- gles and the development of socialism in other countries appeared with increasing fre- quency in the columns of the 'Northern Star' where Harney was now editor. As Harney's interest in the work of Marx and Engels developed, he found himself coming into con- flict with O'Connor's anti- republicanism and lack of in- international terest in the labour movement. He founded "The Red a separate journal, Republican', in which the first English translation of the Com- munist Manifesto was pub- lished in 1848. Two years later, the breach with O'Connor became final.

Resigning from the 'Northern Harney worked with Star' Ernest Jones on the Executive of the National Charter Asso- ciation to bring about the adoption of a new, socialist programme. When he found himself out-voted, O'Connor boycotted the NCA Conven- tried to set up a tion, and separate Chartist body. The programme of the official Convention in 1850 is dis- missed by bourgeois historians as mere whistling in the wind, since Chartism was no longer with the a mass movement to overturn govern- power ments. This is to ignore the poli- tical gains for the future repre- ren police disallowed the demonstration, sented in the programme. Its nationalization aims included of the land, repudiation of the National Debt, complete free- Press, dom of the and the public maintenance of the un- employed. It was also decided in future the Chartists that should work to build close relationships with the trade unions, instead of regarding them as rivals. Ernest Jones was the most outstanding of the Chartists who turned to socialism, under the influence of Marx and Engels. Throughout the 1850s he fought to expose the nature of capitalism and of capitalist politicians, whether Tory, Whig or Radical. He warned that prosperity would not last for ever, nor could it bring per- manent gains to the working class, unless they built a poli- tical movement aimed at taking achieving the power and "social emancipation'. In 1853, he spoke to a mass meeting on Blackstone Edge about the importance of build- ing a working class party: 'Why do we not wait until crisis the and the comes millions rally of their own accord? Because we want not a movement of excitement and danger, but one of calm and and moral strength. reason Therefore we bid you now re- organize-that you may rule instead of being the storm tossed by it.' Trotsky concludes: 'Chartism was unsuccessful not because its methods were incorrect, but because it came too early.'

mid-19th century, In the when Britain became the work- shop of the world, and British benefited from the workers exploitation of the colonies, the political lessons of Char- tism could not be actualized in the building of an independent socialist party. But the First International was founded and the Labour Party was eventu- ally launched on the founda- tions laid by Chartism. Britain's 'truly proletarian tradition' could revolutionary not be entirely smothered by of later labour the reformism bureaucrats. It lives on in the present struggle to transform the Socialist Labour League into the revolutionary party.

1**** ...

Overheard during the small It appears to enjoy con- talk following the latest meet- siderable support in the top ing of the TUC General Coun- leadership of the union, while cil were some remarks made by a number of influential right- David Basnett. 'left' wing, fake and Com- The leader of the gasmen's munist Party figures in the union was reporting industry have rushed more or sym- pathetic approach the National less enthusiastically to its Union of Mineworkers had defence. The present draft is largely of widely-con- rewrite a demned policy statement pre- pared last year by the National Union Vehicle Builders, now merged with the T&GWU dangerous concepts control of the industry' and 'genuine equality between and capital labour by 1980'. Where the NUVB statement insisted that 'the national executives of the unions and the shall have final company responsibility for agreeing the basis of the payment and main working conditions, the

T&GWU

automotive group's present formulation is some- what more David Basnett, G& vague. It says: 'Wages, benefits and made to him offering support major matters relating to wages the moment the General and conditions and [are] be to Municipal Workers' Union negotiated in every firm, plant needed it. combine collectively by or "This then added: Basnett shop stewards and trade union first actual offer of was the officials, based the stan- on help have had since the dards contained in this pro- dispute began. gramme. So much for the famed line Opponents of the document "lefts' of the TUC that they point out, however, that this will not let the gasmen go still embodies the formula down in isolation to defeat.

principle to which they chiefly objected in the original draft- corporate bargaining. The document is, therefore, Car industry members of the unacceptable in its entirety.

Transport and General Wor- But at at least one T&GWU kers' Union fear their leaders district committee automotive recently, it has been 'amended' drag them may soon try to into a sinister network of joint than rejected the rather on grounds that 'a purely negative committees with the employers.

Their fears arise from draft 'Policy for the Vehicle amenders sought simply the document Building and Automotive In- to insert into dustry', circulated by the suggestions incompatible with national committee of the its main line. T&GWU's car-industry trade This, of course, will allow the national committee simply group. to play off one set of amend Countrywide reaction to the draft is to be assessed by the ments against another-leaving them with their original committee in few weeks' pro- time. But all the indications posals. Whoever drafted the are that the policy is already document couldn't have organ- ized things better himself.

dangerously close to adoption.

Where is Britain Going? Paperback 37$p 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 At a time when the Soviet economy is in a crisis, it is not surprising that falsification of ac- counts and production figures should be prac- tised on a wide scale. While the bureaucracy prac- tices falsification for its own purposes in order to disguise the mismanagement of economy, it is less ready to tolerate the presentation of falsified figures by unauthorized persons. Indeed, plant managers are now being hauled before the courts for putting out figures purporting to show that plans had been fulfilled when targets had not been met. In a recent case in the Sverdlov district court, Mos- cow, a former director of a non-ferrous metal-casting plant was in the dock together with his chief engineer and chief book keeper. The trio had concocted accounts to show the plan for the enterprise fulfilled 100 per cent, when in fact production was 17 per cent below target.

way these minor In bureaucrats were able to draw funds for which the enterprise was not entitled. Compared with the penalties for such crimes in Stalin's day, the defendants got off lightly.

They each received one year's corrective labour and a 15-per- deduction from their cent earnings. Undoubtedly for comparable crimes against state property, workers would have been punished much more severely.

The bureaucracy is more lenient with its own delinquents and just tried to teach these three a lesson. A decree of the Supreme Soviet passed in 1961 makes falsification of accounts and production plans punishable by three years' deprivation of freedom. Methods of detection have been improved and it is claimed that few cases go un- discovered. Speaking on the subject recently, however, Much land in the Soviet Union which could be put to productive use is going to waste according to an article in the trade union newspaper, 'Trud'. Its author, Boris Mozhayev, is an expert of Soviet rural life and • its problems. He claims that 95 million acres of land in the area between Moscow Workers Press, Tu Workers leaving a factory in Petrogra falsify their books are being hauled b deputy chair- Vasily Kulikov, man of the USSR Supreme Court, said that 'the struggle against falsification of accounts and other malpractices was not always conducted in a vigour- ous manner' Those guilty of such prac- tices should, he said, be removed from their jobs and and Leningrad and further east have been neglected. He claims that the establish- ment of large collective farms has resulted in much • land which was once tilled being neglected and. returning to communities nature. Small have been wound up, buildings have collapsed and the land is not even used for pasture.

Mozhayev visited over a dozen such forgotten villages • Press, Tuesday March 6, 1973 PAGE 9 • Petrograd. Now plant managers who hauled before the courts.

expelled from the party. He instanced the lenient treatment of Lapshin, deputy director of the Rybinsk shipyard who had falsified the books for years and was given only a three years' suspended sentence.

He called on the courts to pass heavier sentences in such cases. in the Ostashkovo district east of Moscow. He met a peasant still living with his family in one abandoned village who said that there had once been 100 farmsteads in the area and over 500 head of cattle. Lack of roads and invest- ment funds account for the decay of such areas, while huge resources had been thrown into the development of the virgin lands of Asia.

The land in the area which Mozhayev is talking about is much less fertile and has a harsher climate than the great black-earth belt to the south.

Whether it would be worth.

bringing back into cultivation on a large scale is questionable and would require heavy out- lays on farm buildings, hous- ing, machinery and fertilizers.

What is certain is that the bureaucracy's attempts to agrarian crisis in- solve the herited from the Stalin era have completely failed. Perhaps the appearance of such an article in a widely- read paper is a sign that it is turning in desperation to some new experiment in farming the abandoned and marginal lands of north Russia, hitherto re- garded as unsuitable for col- lective farming.

financial commentators capitalist class, as revisionists, cannot ex- plain this trend. the result of It is of course nothing the sort. have insisted, reflects operation basic capi- can conduct its busi- is each (the contains which of the carworker, world trade in gineer, etc) is as of millions of workers. social extent Karl was. to are sold for money. in the For our converts venient way labour into the could be exchanged. direct labour is spent on commodities- -was extremely later turns inconvenient. was the out no way be sold. cannot these inconveniences could do not become commodities and overcome. them is socially unnecessary. In the of role arise out A of ideas to which the revisionists two It the on value; on a large is it meets use its ent. was sible. It lacked a set of forces as an was such a value. and the course it is the alone regulates all market ties, and have. production accumulation. the There not, cannot particular use to We put. talism. has been the utopian dream value of revisionists. system, always stressed, based Clearly a system mind their indivi- one lack- dual, use values. Nor do we have in mind particular type involves nation was tion. calls concrete labour). When we means article of wealth (a value') speak of the equality of their 'use is the of exchange value we have in mind needs ducer, but for the needs of embody. others. are the market they have one use value; on the other an exchange value.

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LAST WEEK Ford executi the men they normally fear- who lead the combine's 50, "There was going to be a For how long? One day, two The bosses smiled and the s their teeth. Within the inner ci - what promised to be the f political clash since the miner the great Ford strike was just n By Wednesday it was public k the headlines with a sink- ing heart; the militant carworkers were hope- lessly split, a token stop- page could be expected at the very most. Only weeks earlier the government had been identi- fying an all-out strike at Ford as the test of the pay laws. Now the threat had evaporated. How had the collapse occurred? The original claim had been prepared along tradi- tional lines. National officials detailed produced their breakdown of company per- formance since the last big strike in 1971.

IRRELEVANT

Such arguments, however, Whether irrelevant. were Ford could pay was not the issue. The claim was clearly a violation of the state pay laws. The task was not to break Ford, but to break the Tory government. At first a series of very militant-sounding challenges were flung out across the media by shop stewards and union spokesmen - they were asking Ford to break the government's pay laws, the company was powerful enough to defy the Tories, etc., etc. The constant thread in these arguments was that the government was not seen as the main enemy. It was Ford who had to be persuaded. This adaptation of reality was best expressed by Swan- sea convenor Hugh Wallace when he explained why the plant was taking three-day strike action and not an all- The govern- out stoppage. ment, he said, was hiding behind Ford, the multi- national corporations could break the law and give in- creases beyond the pittance decreed under Phase Two. These arguments were a massive evasion and the clearest sign that most of the stewards were not cap- able or prepared to fight a political struggle over the claim.

PAY-OFF

This was the real pay-off for militancy as a thing in itself. In 1971 the strike had been abruptly halted by the unprecedented intervention of the two leaders Jack Jones and Hugh Scanlon. They drummed up a deal with Ford's European chiefs behind the backs of the stewards and the national officers concerned in the bitter dispute. The Jones-Scanlon man- oeuvre caused an explosion of anger, but no one was capable of leading a cam- paign against this betrayal because it meant removing a union leadership that stewards, and parti- most cularly Communist Party faction, were pledged to support. This failure had left a re- sidue of anger tinged with ... gi executives began taunting lly fear-the shop stewards ne's 50,000 workers. to be a strike, was there?

day, two days, three days?'

nd the stewards had to grind inner circle the news was out be the fiercest industrial and he miners' dispute was off— as just not going to happen.

public knowledge. Gasmen read No. Ignore that lada. Start ban

GENERAY

STR

0:: the despondency within Now, plants. two years later, the stewards were approaching an even bigger challenge. What political hope of success was there?

The action got off to a militant start. On February 1 Ford made the expected derisory offer exactly in line with the state pay norm. Workers at Halewood, Mer- seyside, walked out imme- diately and Swansea followed. At this stage there was a move by some stewards to keep • them out and imme- diately face the fight against the government. But they were overruled.

STRATEGY

The combine stewards committee decided instead to wait until a special con- ference at Coventry already arranged for February 18.

Here delegations from all plants (invitations were sent out also to hospital work- miners and others) ers, would thrash out a strategy.

The Coventry war council proved to be a paper tiger.

A decision to launch all- out strike action from March 1 was taken. It sounded militant enough, but beneath the angry words a great betrayal was being prepared. A tell-tale sign was the platform's refusal to allow a resolution calling for a General Strike of all unions as the only way of winning the political struggle right ahead. Chairman was lead-..

ing Ford Stalinist Sid Harraway. Debate on this issue ob- viously would have been the real test of whether ste- wards would go back to their plants and prepare the men for a showdown with the Tories. As it was, in the crucial period between February 18 and March 1 no campaign whatever was launched to win support for the strike. Fair warning that such a campaign was needed was ith given the same day as the SID HARRAWAY, leading Del genham Stalinist ... Block- ad General Strike motion.

FORD CONVENDA S

hat lada. Start banging your heads against this wall.

LOMMITTEE

SELECTIVE

STRIKE

CAMPAIGN

MIRE

Coventry conference when a Dagenham engine-plant meeting voted against any form of action. But even in militant plants like Hale- wood there were no lea- flets, no meetings, no pre- paration. A whole group of ste- wards had clearly already decided to abandon the claim until the Tory pay laws just 'disappeared'. By Wednesday, February 21, just three days after Coventry's near-unanimous vote for all-out action, Har- raway was telling the 'Bar- king and Dagenham Adver- tiser' that 'the position will be reviewed'. Ford workers would take industrial 'some 1 rm of action', he said. But he made clear that whatever it was it wouldn't be all-out strike. 'It might be sporadic the teachers', strikes, like Harraway hinted. This was clear signalling 'of a retreat. And, remem- ber, Harraway was here talking to a capitalist news- the day before his paper convenor's committee had met to assess the situation.

The convenors met on Thursday, February 22, and the works committees and union officials the following day. Plant after plant reported that the March 1 pledge had not been honoured and that there would be no action.

The collapse included Dag- enham—only Halewood and Swansea were prepared to go. ad- RECRIMINATION There were bitter recrimi- nations. From Halewood Les Moore, engineers' senior steward, demanded that a decision at least for a token strike the following on Thursday should be taken in advance of last Monday's with meeting management. He was backed by Swan- sea and a lone voice from the Basildon plant. But all the southern plants, includ- every steward from Dagenham, raised their the sugges- hands against thetion..

HUGH WALLACE,

Swancea •. Ford could convenor break the ini.

LAWS

KEEP

DUT!

Harraway's position as secretary of the group was one of evasion. It would, 'work itself out, he said.

This lethargy on the left of the committee was deci- The right wingers •sive. clearly wanted to promote a collapse because they were incapable and afraid of tak- ing on the government. But the 'left' and the Stalinists were equally afraid or in- capable of exposing the faint-hearts and campaign- ing among the membership for action.

OWN ACTION

Militant Ford workers insist that with a campaign the men would have res- ponded-as it was, unity be- tween and within plants broke into a thousand pieces. After the Monday meet- ing with management the combine committee was un- able to work out any coherent policy and the plants were left to take their own forms of action.

The retreat at Ford's can- not be minimized. It is a significant victory for the Tory government. national officers, The Moss Evans of the T&GWU of the and Reg Birch AUEW, do not advise strike action. They were against an indefinite strike at any plant from March 1. The talk is now of sporadic dis- ruption and guerrilla action which will of course be useless. • go immediately Effects beyond the motor industry.

The carworkers would have added an enormous strength to the campaign against the government and brought the movement a big step closer to a political and industrial conflict that would • have forced Heath to resign. Now the Tories have " gained a significant tactical and propaganda advantage.

This situation could still be reversed. Ford workers still want their £10. But they will need a new leadership to get it. Workers Press, Tuesday March 6, 1973 PAGE 11 LES MOORE, convenor of the militant Halewood plant for the past seven years, now senior engineers' steward, talks about the ford debacle. We have to be honest about this one. The Ford workers are disappointed with their leadership and they have a perfect right to be.

You cannot expect workers to go into a fight which is half political and half industrial with- out an absolutely firm lead. But there has been campaign or lead. по The combine committee has let them down.

They have done nothing but step back since the original decision At to strike was taken. Halewood there has been no meeting, no litera- ture has been put out and there has been no real attempt to bring the rank-and-file together and give them a sense of unity of purpose.

I believe you can't just leave men on their own to enter a battle like this. Decisions should be taken then decisions should be worked for campaigned for like they were in 1971. Given this situation, you have to admit that the men responded magnificently. They at Halewood came out because they believe in this claim and hate the government. Of course the real tragedy is not in Ford but in the working class in general. The Ford struggle would have captured the headlines and the media-we always get the big publicity.

What an encouragement this would have been to others and the workers already on strike like the gasmen. We could have come out then gone to Vauxhall's and 'Right we are said: all in the same boat. Let's go' The lads at Halewood will still be going back with the will to fight. There will be action I can only hope that the rise in the future. in the cost of living will prompt action throughout the whole working-class.

TWENTY-FIVE store- duction closing down. Work will now be car- keepers at CAV Acton ried out according have won the right for to the laid conditions their shop steward to down by the stores control the issue of steward and assembly following components barred from men are three and a half days the stores, as are the of industrial action. majority of progress The entire machines chasers. factory assembly line • Production workers' was shut down. The men refused to overtime ended on Fri- issue any work until the day when works order agreed to control clerks decided management demands. The to ban overtime. their storekeepers complain The men concerned that assembly line lead- collate information re- ers were by-passing the lating to output and the and workers' stores that production com- ponent shortages 'made wages. their life hell' They are complaining The company gave in that they had raW last Friday when there deal as a result of last was a danger of all pro- year's site agreement. A FURTHER call for because composition', *law was 'looking right-wing and everyone order' the after number one. came at Sir crocodile weekend from 'We weep Frederick Catherwood. tears about the old-age pension' he continued, He is former direc- 'but it never stops us Na- tor-general of the putting in the next Economic tional De- claim.' wage velopment Council and John Laing's made chief executive of now Laing's builders. in the 1972-1973 finan- British society, in an said cial year-almost £2m Sir Frederick, is up on the previous 'advanced state of de- year.

TUC: Black Monday becomes a Mystery woman took Poulson holiday PAGE 12 Workers Pross, Tuesday March 6, 1973 JOE GORMLEY, the president of the miners' union, told the special congress of the TUC that alternatives facing the trade movement were either 'change the polfeies of the government, or change the damned gor- ernment'. Gormley, the first speaker in the day-jang Congress, was moving the reference back of Committee the General Purposes report which disallowed motions of amendments during the proceedings. The unions could not pussyfoot around on these issues for ever, Gormley said. The NUM had two criticisms of the General Council report: it con- specific points tained no action if was tor ignored by the Tories and it could not be dis- cussed point by point. It was the unanimous decision of the union's executive that there must be some united action by the trade union movement as a whole if the government ignored the TUC's advice.

Gormley denied that there anything of 'anarchy' in this An argument broke ou decision. 'Every strike at the moment is not just against the employers, but report. against the government. We be- (A delegations voted against. lieve that if there are going to

UCATT

dele- large number be political strikes, the action gates angrily protested that their should be united,' he said. had been taken vote against It was clear that wage delegate meeting.) without a claim today would be won by one-day strikes or

AFTER

hour-long adjourn- an marches. the General ment Council was A lot of peoble had sour forced to allow discussion of memories of 1926. Gormley said, resolutions and amendments to but the trade But in his lead-in movement their report. today was a completely different general debate, into the secre- 'United Victor Feather animal. we can stand was able to tary and succeed, but divided we are 'unanimous' General announce guaranteed to fail.' Council backing for his 'all options open' policy. PARAGRAPH 116 of the Gene- Said Feather: 'To suggest that ral Council report 'condemned the unions are claiming the right us to the situation of the past, the silly to run country is too said Clive Jenkins, general sec- for words.' The unions were not white collar retary the usurping anyone else's function, ASTMS, seconding Gormley. he said. This situation 'where was 'We have to deal with govern- those in difficulty ask the they deal ments and have to General Council for support and there is only with us one it might or might not give it.' time and government at we He action proposed an com- always tried have maintain mittee of unions involved in pay a working relationship with that struggles. government. whatever its poli- tical colour.' REFERENCE back of the Gene- Committee the Pay Instead of joining ral Purposes report carried 5,096,000 to Board, the unions would go on by was 4.257,000 the with their 'campaign for changes with transport and the in policy, he said. union, the engineers Feather that the voting favour to- made clear miners General Council's policy with the civil was gether servants, the TV technicians, firemen, only for very selective support for trade unions the sheetmetalworkers, printing in pay unions and other unions. struggle. and municipal, It would 'look at' appeals for The general teachers', local instructions picket electricians'; gov- cross and builders' liner, sympathetic in- ernment officers' THE BANKRUPT Yorkshire treated a 'Miss X' to a holida Wakefield court heard yester But in contrast to the other eigh case, Mr Muir Hunter QC, counse names. He did reveal, however, that the woman was the mystery dauchter of a 'close client' of Poulson's. No were used either names when he referred once more to the 'Dorchester Hotel file'.

Many people, he said, had en- joyed holidays at the hotel, but this no detailed examination of this would be undertaken at stage. of In previous hearings names Cabinet including Ministers. Maudling. Reginald ex-Home Secretary, Labour Shadow Minis- ter Anthony Crosland, as well as the north- Andrew Cunningham. leader, have been east union with mentioned in connection This has Poulson. led to angry Labour and Tory protests from

•JOHN POULSON

leaders and recriminations against Mr Muir Hunter. Yesterdav's allegations of more free holidavs abroad came during newspaper not the the Registered of Mr Poulson's published an examination Post Office. High 1862 C Clapham Street, business activities in the Middle Printed by controlled by his office in East Ltd. TU). 180b 180b Clap Beirut. Lebanon. ham Hish Street, London, 01-720 Circulation. Mr Muir Hunter read out 7029. • broke out in the UCATT (building union) dak dustrial action, he said.

But, he added: 'It would be but ill-judged to commit easy ourselves at this stage to some specific form of industrial action ... When I say that all options are open, I mean exactly that.

I am speaking on behalf of the General Council, a General which is unanimous Council even on this phrase: all options are open. This means that which situation may the come General Council would be justi- fied in calling for industrial action.' Feather refused to com- But mit the trade union movement 'in advance to support any and every claim regardless of cir- cumstances and merits'. He described a vote for the report as giving 'both authority and latitude to the General Council. IN HIS first words from the rostrum Jack Jones, T&GWU general secretary, supported the General Council's report.

The T&GWU delegation would back the report but also wanted 'more positive action'. Jones said that the report spells out non-co-operation with the Pay Board and the Prices Commission, 'the one a trap, the other a mockery'. • he said that the union And wanted paragraph 116 of the report to be active. 'But perhaps delegates are right in demanding rkshire architect John Poulson • holiday in the Middle East a yesterday. ther eight hearings of the celebrated , counsel for the trustees, used no

FROM STEPHEN JOHNS

IN WAKEFIELD

letters to and from Mr Poulson which mentioned a dollar account at the Chase Manhattan bank separate from his business account in Beirut: Mr Poulson denied all know- ledge of this account. One letter from Mr Poulson of dated May 196 referred to a trip made by his secretary Miss McLeod and a 'Miss X'. Poulson was alleged to have told the chief executive of his to make sure Beirut operation they had a good time and to pay for hotel bills and trips around the Middle East including one to Jerusalem. Other letters dealt with pay- ment into the account of cash travellers' and cheques. This 'other account' was one fed by surplus currency and travellers' cheques for private purposes in the Middle East, said Mr Muir Hunter. Poulson-who maintained his nion) datagation when the card holder voted.

a little more firmly! spelled out that this should be The kind of support shown by the trade union movement to the miners last year would de- feat the government's policies, he said. 'Our must be: Let's stand stick together. United we can prices and defeat this unfair wages policy. If we adopt the positive action report and this afternoon we can defeat the un- fair policy of the government.'

GENERAL secretary of the Civil and Public Services Association, Bill Kendall, said a good deal of frustration and disillusionment in the trade unions were brought about partly by the TUC General Council. The council 'appears to have become mesmerized by masterly

TUC

inacitivity'. He said document would, of itself, 'have as much impact as a wet sponge' He said that 'nobody seriously believes the government is going to take a blind bit of notice un- less we punch home the message some sort of industrial with action'. brought the His remarks cheers of the morning loudest session. PRESIDENT of the engineers' union, Hugh Scanlon, called for 'united demonstrative action' to show that the whole trade union movement was behind the work-

MUIR HUNTER, QC

composure and even laughed during the cross examination— was also questioned over pay- ments of £28,000 from 1967 to 1969 to Mr Coster Nasser, one of the Beirut executives.

Mr Muir Hunter asked Mr Poulson to account for this sum of money, which was £16,000 in Mr Coster Nasser's excess salary for the two years.

If Mr Nasser used the money in the Chase Manhatan account, why was this not offset against the £28,000? Poulson replied that he did not know. Was there any balance the Chase Manhattan left in account? 'That is what we are trying to 84 voted against reference back of the ers in struggle with the Tories over pay. The support should be given 'morally, financially and in every other term possible', he said.

Scanlon criticized union leaders who said the government's policy could be defeated by forcing the Tories to make exceptions to it.

The policy had to be 'blown sky high not by exceptions, but the whole of action of by unity trade union movement', he said.

the Phase Two of the Once policy • became law there pay could be a strong feeling amongst union members to ask why should they pay union contributions if pay was going to be determined in Whitehall. RAY BUCKTON, general secre- tary of the rail locomen's union General said that the ASLEr, Council's report needed some of what they're little injection hitting us with'. strike would not one-day achieve anything, he said.

BLACK MONDAY is here it has become a reality. The lesson of this historic betrayal by the TUC is that an alternative revolution- ary leadership must be built in the trade union movement.

The first step in this task is a massive turn-out at the anti-Tory at the Empire Pool, rally Wembley, this Sunday when our Pageant of working-class history 'The Road to Workers' Power will be presented. find out, said Mr Muir Hunter with a smile. 'Perhaps it would be better if we all went to the Lebanon?' The also heard more court about Poulson's association with William Sales, the ex-chairman of the Yorkshire National Coal Board. Referring to the 'carpet file', Mr Muir Hunter asked Poulson if he had authorized payment of £500 to Sinclair & Company of Scarborough tor carpets, curtains and furniture covering in sales which Poulson is house, for alleged to have given £7,000 to- wards the purchase price.

Letters from Sinclair's to a Mr Booth; executive of an Poulson's firm, showed that $500 had been paid while Poulson was in West Africa in 1962. Later, in June 1963, Poulson paid £300 to Mr Sales. This sug- gested Mr Muir Hunter, was the the car- balance of the cost of peting. Mr Muir Hunter asked if Poulson was a 'carpeting archi- tect? Mr Poulson said interior decoration was undertaken by his firm and he denied any knowledge of the Sinclair trans- action. • opened with Mr Poulson a the Press publicity statement c.n over the hearing. He referred to deplorable publicity over remarks about a 'parliamentary file'. There had been, he said, no mention of a 'parliamentary file' in the case.

The case has been adjourned until June 25. Mr Muir Hunter said that by then the 1,200 bundles of documents and files will have been indexed and fully examined.