Workers Press no. 1024

workers press

"A REAL BATTLE' AGAINST TORIES' PAY LAW

MINERS TO BALLOT

FOR STRIKE ACTION

THE MINERS' uni with a unanimous tive to reject the C and vote for indust Joe Gormley, NUM president, said the gov- ernment was undoubtedly seeking a confrontation with the trade union movement by the de- liberate re-wording of the Phase Two Green Paper which ruled out a third week's holiday for miners. In view of this, in Gorm- ley's view there will be no point in going for anything less than an all-out strike if the ballot gives the executive the required 55 per cent majority authoriz- ing them to take industrial action. There is no point in pussyfooting about if we are going to get involved in this. There is no pressure at all on the government from a one-day strike or an overtime ban. There is a big majority on the executive in favour of a real battle, if it has to be this way, rather than pussyfooting about. So the miners are poised once again to lead the fight of the working class against the punitive burdens being imposed by the Tory govern- ment as a cure for capital- ism's uncontrollable inflation.

This move towards strike action comes at a critical stage in the fight against the state pay laws. It could begin the process leading to the resignation of the lory government and allow the miners and the whole of the working class to take revenge for the bitter defeat inflicted on it in 1926. Gormley said that the final he had with discussion Minister for Industry Tom Boardman this week had made it plain that there was no purpose in any further discussions about the miners' pay claim for £5 to £7 more a week. The offer of £2.29, plus some fringe benefits, was all the Coal Board was in- structed to offer. *We are not even dealing with the Coal Board. The opposition is coming from the government,' said Gorm- ley yesterday. He said the wording had

INCONTI

DAILY ORGAN OF THE

By Royston Bull S' union is to ballot on a nous recommendation fr ndustrial action. been changed from the first White Paper about Phase Two to the words in the Green Paper on the Code of guidance to the Pay Board so that the miners' third week holiday deal was de- liberately scotched. "There is some political reasoning behind it. And Boardman said things are going to be even tougher under Phase Three. There will not be much cake available. 'There is some deliberate purpose in changing this Green Paper wording. The government is deliberately trying

CLEAR THE AIR

But Gormley concluded: It is time we had a General Election. It would clear the air' One executive meeting was the attitude of the Com- munist Party members and their supporters. The decision to go directly to the strike ballot was opposed by the Stalinists and only got through on Gorm- ley's casting vote. Their counter proposal was for a special one-day conference of miners' dele- gates. None of the explanations for this move makes much sense. A special conference could have been of use if the executive had recom- mended acceptance of the offer, but in fact it was unanimously opposed to it, and has been all along.

ATING THE NEWSLETTER • SATURDAY N

F THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF

t on a national strike ion from the execu- ernment pay ceiling JOE GORMLEY at TUC special Congress, March 5, 1973. And any decision of a special conference about strike action would still have to be put to a ballot under the NUM constitution. Not even the wording on the ballot form could have been decided by a special conference. And, in any case, the eventual wording was agreed unanimously. It reads: In keeping with the 1972 Annual Conference decision, the National Execu- tive Committee has rejected as unsatisfactory the Board's offer [as set out overleaf] to increase wages and fringe benefits within the govern- ment's formula. 'Are you in favour of the NEC being given authority to call a national strike or other industrial action as necessary in support of our efforts to obtain a satis- factory response to our claim on behalf of all our mem- bers? •"Yes" or "No": A delegate conference could certainly argue a case for taking powerful strike action, but so equally can area and lodge meetings, which will be held anyway.

Authority for industrial action had already been given by the Morecambe 1972 conference. The main effect of calling a further conference would have been to delay for a further three weeks or so the final decision by the miners in a ballot to strike or not. miners' executive The policy is now correct. The task is to work to make it a 100-per-cent success. TURDAY MARCH 17, 1973 • No. 1024

TEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUF

BY

MAYING

S. EP. POSES ARé re

VOLETS ARE TE

DU KNOW WHAT Y8.

CAN DO WITA

Civil servants' picket outside St Sı

HOSPITALS

Hospital workers are today in the front line of the fight against the Tory pay laws.

In today's Workers Press our special writer,

BERNARD

FRANKS, concludes a two- part series of the fight of the acillary staff to main- tain a decent standard of living. Starting on pages 4 and 5 today:

'THE CINDERELLAS OF THE

WARDS.!

*RAND Daily Mail' attacked British - owned companies which claimed they did not know starvation wages were being paid to their South African employees. It asked how employers could ignorant of such matters.

APR 30

ER

VITAL STATISTICS

Outside rates of pay up 28% Civil Service rates of may 10 7%

OUR

TOPPAGI

TODAY

IS FOR

JUSTICE

ON PAY

Civil service workers stop Hansard report

CIVIL SERVICE

strikers at St Stephen's Press have stopped circulation of Han- official sard, the parliamentary report, and the House of Commons order paper as part of their union's industrial action campaign against the Tory pay laws. Alan Pawsey, Civil and Public Services' Association branch secretary, said the 24- picket the 16 strikers nour have been running for the last week had been tremely successful. They have received from driver support members of the Union of Post Office Workers, who have refused to cross their picket lines.

Mem- bers of the print union SOGAT in the press have also been co-operating But Commons messengers, members of the Transport and General Workers' Union, have been crossing the picket on the instructions union and a CPSA spokesman yester- leaders, day confirmed that the union had made representations to Jack Jones about it.

workers press

"A REAL BATTLE' AGAINST TORIES' PAY LAW

MINERS TO BALLOT

FOR STRIKE ACTION

THE MINERS' uni with a unanimous tive to reject the C and vote for indust Joe Gormley, NUM president, said the gov- ernment was undoubtedly seeking a confrontation with the trade union movement by the de- liberate re-wording of the Phase Two Green Paper which ruled out a third week's holiday for miners. In view of this, in Gorm- ley's view there will be no point in going for anything less than an all-out strike if the ballot gives the executive the required 55 per cent majority authoriz- ing them to take industrial action. There is no point in pussyfooting about if we are going to get involved in this. There is no pressure at all on the government from a one-day strike or an overtime ban. There is a big majority on the executive in favour of a real battle, if it has to be this way, rather than pussyfooting about. So the miners are poised once again to lead the fight of the working class against the punitive burdens being imposed by the Tory govern.

ment as a cure for capital- ism's uncontrollable inflation.

This move towards strike action comes at a critical stage in the fight against the state pay laws. It could begin the process leading to the resignation of the lory government and allow the miners and the whole of the working class to take revenge for the bitter defeat inflicted on it in 1926. Gormley said that the final discussion, he had with Minister for Industry Tom this week had Boardman made it plain that there was no purpose in any further discussions about the miners' pay claim for £5 to £7 more a week. The offer of $2.29, plus some fringe benefits, was all the Coal Board was in- structed to offer. 'We are not even dealing with the Coal Board. The opposition is coming from the government,' said Gorm- ley yesterday. He said the wording had

INCORPONG THI

DAILY ORGAN OF THE

By Royston Bull nous recommendation ir ndustrial action. been changed from the first White Paper about Phase Two to the words in the Green Paper on the Code of guidance to the Pay Board so that the miners' third week holiday deal was de- liberately scotched. 'There is some political reasoning behind it. And Boardman said things are going to be even tougher under Phase Three. There will not be much cake available. 'There is some deliberate purpose in changing this Green Paper wording. The government is deliberately trying to con-

CLEAR THE AIR

But Gormley • concluded: It is time we had a General Election. It would clear the air' One mystery about the miners' executive meeting was the attitude of the Com- munist Party members and their supporters. The decision to go directly to the strike ballot was opposed by the Stalinists and only got through on Gorm- ley's casting vote. Their counter proposal was for a special one-day conference of miners' dele- gates. None of the explanations for this move makes much sense. A special conference could have been of use if the executive had recom- mended acceptance of the offer, but in fact it was to it, unanimously opposed and has been all along.

ATING THE NEWSLETTER • SATURDAY N

F THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF

on a national strike ion trom the execu- 'ernment pay ceiling JOE GORMLEY at TUC special Congress, March 5, 1973. And any decision of a special conference about strike action would still have to be put to a ballot under the NUM constitution. Not even the wording on the ballot form could have been decided by a special conference. And, in any case, the eventual wording was agreed unanimously. It reads: 'In keeping with the 1972 Annual Conference decision, the National Execu- tive Committee has rejected as unsatisfactory the Board's offer [as set out overleaf] to increase wages and fringe benefits within the govern- ment's formula. 'Are you in favour of the being given authority

NEC

to call a national strike or other industrial action as necessary in support of our efforts to obtain a satis- factory response to our claim on behalf of all our mem- bers? • "Yes" or "No"? A delegate conference could certainly argue a case for taking powerful strike action, but so equally can area and lodge meetings, which will be held anyway.

Authority for industrial action had already been given by the Morecambe 1972 conference. The main effect of calling a further conference would have been to delay for a further three weeks or so the final decision by the miners in a ballot to strike or not. miners' executive 'The policy is now correct. The task is to work to make it a 100-per-cent success. TURDAY MARCH 17, 1973• No. 1024 •

TEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR

CLETS FRE

CAN DOWIN

1 HASE II.

Civil servants' picket outside St SI

HOSPITALS

Hospital workers are today in the front line of the fight against the Tory pay laws.

In today's Workers Press our special writer,

BERNARD

FRANKS, concludes a two- part series of the fight of the ancillary staff to main- tain a decent standard of living. Starting on pages 4 and 5 today:

'THE CINDERELLAS OF THE

WARDS!

'RAND Daily Mail' attacked British - owned companies which claimed they did not know starvation wages were being paid to their South African employees. It asked how employers could • be ignorant of such matters.

• 1024 • 4p

LABOUR LEAGUE

VITAL STATISTICS

Jutside rates of pay up 28% Civil Service rates of nay 10 7%

TOPPA C

TODA

IS FOR

JUSTICH

ON PAT

side St Stephen's Press yesterday.

CIVIL SERVICE strikers at St Stephen's Press have stopped circulation of Han- the official parliamentary report, sard, the House of Commons order paper and as part of their union's industrial action campaign against the Tory pay laws.

Alan Pawsey, Civil and Public Services' Association branch secretary, said the 24- hour picket the 16 strikers have been running for the last week had been 'ex- tremely successful. They have received of the support from driver members Union of Post Office Workers, who have retused to cross their picket lines. Mem- bers of the print union SOGAT in the press have also been co-operating.

But Commons messengers, members of Transport and General Workers' the Union, have been crossing the picket lines on the instructions of their union leaders, and a CPSA spokesman yester- day confirmed that the union had made representations to Jack Jones about it.

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Saturday March 17, 1973 TOP EMPLOYERS in the Confederation of British Industry-along with the British Steel Corporation's chairman Lord Melchett representing the nationalized industries — have reached agreement with Tory premier Edward Heath on forcing the unions to accept Phase Two of the government's corporatist state pay plan. This is what lies behind Thursday's statement by the CBI's director-general, Mr W. Camp- bell Adamson, and its president, Mr Michael Clapham, after they had conferred with Heath for 105 minutes. 'We have no differences on objectives,' they said. 'The government's fight against inflation has our support. We admire them for the firm way they are tackling it.'

Only days ago, the CBI bosses were threatening that unless higher profits were guaranteed investment would stop. In particular, they said that without assurances that the principle of control of profits and prices would not be carried into Phase Three of the government's state pay laws, production and trade would grind to a halt. On Thursday they told a Press conference that Heath had informed them that he had no 'rigid intention' of continuing Phase Two controls into Phase Three in the autumn- but neither could he guarantee that it wouldn't happen! Yet now Adamson and Clapham announce that they can accept this and hang on until autumn without affecting investment at all. It is economic nonsense to say that investment decisions can hang fire in conditions of con- tinuing uncertainty about the government's intentions. And it conflicts with everything the CBI chiefs have said previously.

So what lies behind this apparent about-turn— what 'The Times' called their 'unexpectedly composed frame of mind about the govern- ment's intentions? Since the top employers and their leading politician have not reached an agreement on profits, prices and Phase what lies behind the CBI's 'support' Three, and 'admiration' for the Heath government?

Only one thing remains: that the real discussion was not about Phase Three at all, but about Heath's ability to take on and defeat the trade unions. An agreement on that question is far more ominous for the working class than any tactical disagreement on Phase Heath, having bought off the em- Three. ployers with a promise to break the unions, must now deliver the goods.

He can do this in only one way-by provoking a General Strike against an unprepared wor- king class on the terms most suitable to the Tories. A defeat inflicted on workers in such a conflict would enable the Tories and the employers to drive them back to work on terms dictated by the boss and the state. In this situation, the time-wasting and inacti- vity of the TUC-which leaves workers like the hospital ancillary staffs totally isolated —is a criminal betrayal of the entire working class. Only the Labour and trade union leaders, together with their Stalinist and revisionist hangers-on, refuse to see that the Tories have already embarked on deliberate provocations. This is the meaning of British Rail's sanctions against the train drivers, the open encour- agement given by the Tories to the middle- class commuter belt to physically assault railwaymen, and the decision to send work normally done by hospital workers to be done in the prisons. The Socialist Labour League is the only orga- nization today which raises the central question of political leadership for the wor- king class to defeat the Tories. That is the of our demand that the union purpose leaders be made to mobilize the strength of the whole trade union movement in a General Strike to create the political and industrial conditions to force the Tory gov- ernment to resign. Either this, or the working class will be forced to accept, in Hugh Scanlon's words-which he refuses to translate into action— 'The end of trade unionism as we know it today'.

FINANCE Ministers of the 14 leading capitalist countries met in Paris yester- day to take final decisions the on monetary crisis be. fore re-opening the foreign exchange mar- kets on Monday. The meeting was a re- sumed session of the top- level talks which broke up without substantial agree- ment a week ago. Since then the Common Market has announced that the German mark,. Danish Dutch guilder and crown, French, Belgian and Luxem- burg francs will float jointly against the dollar when the markets reopen. The EEC delegates opened yesterday's meeting by ex- plaining their plans to the other participants. US Treasury Secretary George Schultz then EEC questions answered about American participation in a so-called 'international settlement'. French Finance Minister Valery, Giscard d'Estaing, who chaired the conference, the morning claimed after session: 'There has been a large measure of agreement the

CONCORDE,

Anglo- French supersonic jet, is a commercial failure and poses no threat to the US aerospace industry. accord- Ing to a US Congressional sub-committee. The majority finding by NORTH VIETNAM has been threatened with re- newed bombing by US President Nixon, who claims it is sending wea- pons and supplies to the south. At a Press conference on Thursday Nixon emphasized that he had never hesitated to resort to bombing and other military measures when the North Vietnamese had dragged their feet dur- ing the Paris peace talks.

To show he meant busi- ness, Nixon stopped the evacuation of American troops from Vietnam. His warnings resembled those PRESIDENT Nixon is mov- ing to a showdown with Congress over White House staff called upon to testify before Congressional com- mittees. The conflict has come to a head over his nomination of Patrick Grey as perman- ent head of the powerful Federal Bureau of Investi- gation in succession to the late Edgar J. Hoover. Grey's conduct of the Watergate affair, in which two members of the Presi-

BY JOHN SPE

concerning the intention of the nations taking part.'

But other EEC sources said Schultz had made only slight concessions in agree- ing to maintain • the dollar's parity against the EEC float.

Sources said EEC • cur- rencies would probably float upwards against the dollar when markets re-opened. This means that the re- lations between currencies will be further disrupted as soon as the markets open and the joint float will im- mediately be under strain.

So any Paris agreement can only be the most tem- porary and ramshackle. Ministers' The Finance deliberations during the re- cord fortnight's closure of foreign exchange markets have been a disastrous failure. They have been forced to put an end to the last ves- tiges of the post-war fixed parity system and float almost all the capitalist world's main currencies. At same time they were the unable to agree even within the EEC on joint steps to meet the situation. damning But the most evidence of their failure is the continued rise in the gold price, now over $82 an ounce on the London market, despite rumours earlier this Democratic Senator Prox- committee 'More than a failure, this plane that was often alleged to end American dominance of civil aircraft manufactur- ing has debilitated the aero- by space industries of our two given before the mining of the North's harbours and the big bombing raids last December. He gave no time limit to his ultimatum. US reprisals might take the form of bombing supply depots and storage dumps in North Vietnam and at- tacks on the Ho Chi Minh trail. Talks on US aid for the reconstruction of North opened in Paris Vietnam and will resume on Monday.

Officials made it clear that the prospects for such aid ooked poor if the alleges Vorth Vietnamese ceasefir violations continue. Hanoi has already been dent's campaign staff were convicted of conspiring to tap Democratic Party tele- phones during the presiden- tial campaign, has roused deep antagonism. Nixon said that he did not think responsible Sena- tors would make Grey a hostage by refusing to con- his appointment be- firm cause of the dispute over the Watergate affair. Meanwhile he refuses to allow his staff

JOHN SPENCER

week that central banks may sell their holdings of the metal. Banking circles know there is no way out of the crisis by international agreement.

Those who put their trust in the rumours of gold sales and in the hope that Wash- ington will to the come rescue are deluding them- selves with wishful thinking.

The present crisis can end only one way: with a sub- stantial of credit collapse internationally, bankrupting whole sections of industry and commerce and pricking the inflationary bubble which has grown to such grotesque proportions. This collapse could well be precipitated by develop- ments in the Euro-currency market, the centre for lend- ing and borrowing of much of the pool of 'hot' dollars and other depreciating paper Quarterly Bulletin, published last week, shows an ominous rise in the short-term debts of British banks on the Euro- currency markets. Its figures show not only a £9,000m increase in British banks' involvement in this market, but also a sharp increase in their short-term indebtedness. There has been a marked tendency for banks to bor- main overseas rivals by de- vouring resources that might have been used to develop and more viable products has discredited these indus- tries in the eyes of the sup- of future financing, pliers Including i the British and French taxpayers.' promised aid for 1973 from the Soviet Union, China and several East European coun tries. North Vietnamese daily 'Nhan Dan' accused the US of supplying South Vietnam with arms via Japan through the port of Da Nang. A Foreign Ministry statement attacked US air intrusions and called for scrupulous observance of the Paris peace terms. In the latest move to im- prove relations with China, Nixon has appointed the 75- year-old diplomat David Bruce as head of the US office in Peking liaison which is to open in May. ingress over vere to appear before the com- mittees. Nixon is out to increase the powers of the executive branch and render his own large and expanding staff immune to Congressional scrutiny. This is a direct challenge to Congress. He claimed that if the Senate wanted to test his ruling by taking it to the Supreme Court, he believed he would win. short-term money and

TOW

lend for longer terms, often to borrowers who would have been considered bad credit risks in the past.

As the sardonic columnist of the 'Financial Times' put it: 'Lenders have found pressurized themselves to look for outlets of a less conventional kind than • the market has contented itself with in the past.' The Bulletin comments on the increased 'lack of balance in terms of maturities be- loans and liabilities' tween This has become so marked that whereas 67 per cent of liabilities outstanding were due to be repaid in less than three months, the proportion of loaned money due to be repaid to the banks in the same period was only 58 per cent. The key role played by the Euro-currency market and its international rami- fications mean that one major collapse could rebound with great rapidity throughout the world's banking capitalist system. Yet this market is beyond the control of any single capitalist country and has virtually no rules to govern its operations. The increasing short-term debts of London banks on this market can only increase the danger of a failure which could precipitate the collapse of big sections of the credit system. Five committee members were against these findings.

Proxmire is a leading campaigner against the pro- vision of government funds for an American supersonic jet, a project which some interests trying to are revive.

AUSTRALIAN

Attorney- General, Lionel Murphy, by accompanied police, entered the Australian Secur- ity Intelligence Organization headquarters in Melbourne to search files for informa- tion on the Yugoslav Ustachi organization. The organiza- tion had previously refused to supply the information, required in order to fore- stall a possible attempt on the life of Yugoslav Prime Dzemal Bijedic Minister, when he visits the country next week.

THE YUGOSLAV

army magazine has attacked former vice-president Milovan Djilas, now as a traitor who has western reactionary circles.

THE US embassy in Bel- grade has protested against Press attacks on the Voice of America radio station and accusing embassy officials them of anti-Yugoslav bias.

Yugoslav papers claim that broadcasts have encouraged demonstrations and terrorist attacks on diplomatic mis- sions abroad. PHILIPPINE government has informed the South East Asia Organization that Treaty unidentified troops from outside the country were aiding the Moslem revolt in the southern island, Min- danao. Well-armed rebels have taken over part of the island and are believed to be supported by the Maoist Communist Party which has also been carrying on guer- rilla warfare against the Marcos government, a US puppet regime.

BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

WORKERS at the Meriden works of BSA-Triumph are unhappy about the manoeuvres surrounding the company. Share dealings in the company wer this week following a wave of selling which wiped pounds off the market value.

A crash by BSA would mean redundancy for the work force. The panic selling of BSA stock was due to 'insider trading'. In other words, people con- nected with the finance and management of the company decided to unload shares. They would only take this action if they thought the company was in deep financial waters.

There is little satisfaction from the government statement in the Commons on Thursday. The House was told that negotiations had commenced between Manganese Bronze and the Department of Trade and Industry about. a pos- 'So I don't know where sible take over. we go from here. But there We Although the Tory should be no sacking. have opposed Press claimed this was always re- dundancies in the past and 'rescue', Mr John Neville, sackings should be any the company's vice chair- fought this time' man, said: 'That is the John Gorman said: 'What wrong emphasis to put on worries me is that someone it.' like Manganese Bronze are not just Mr Les Froggett, a wor- buying after the the Meriden plant, They tell me the land ker at name. said: 'We don't want to see at Meriden is worth millions if it could sold for on the streets. any man go In the past we have always house building. We have got They to watch we are not being opposed redundancies. taken over by tell us order books are full.

some asset- stripper who is going to sell But most of our orders go off the land. America and the Yankee to dollar not worth is much 'If this happens we should these days. We are not prepared sit-in. to take a cut in wages. that's what is behind the present me,

T&GWU

Gerry Mulherne. shop steward, said: 'Every- Triumph. situation at see much don't future for body's concerned about Tories. under the A us their jobs. But I don't see future Labour that it's the job of shop government nationalize Triumph. stewards to agree to wage- must We could run it as easy as cutting to maintain flagging

ABC!'

industries. Fred Smith, Transport 'That's what is happening Workers' Triumph. and General We have al- at Union shop steward, said: ready agreed to reduction in time payments. Now waiting 'We appear to sell every negotiations taking are We have bike make. we 60 on being timed place been told the Americans an hour instead of minutes will buy every bike we can the previous 50 minutes an produce, yet the place wraps hour. up. 'I see that the only solu- 'We have just accepted a is a political solution. tion cut in wages in respect of We must campaign for the return of a Labour govern- waiting-time payments to help the firm because they and the nationaliza- ment of the industry.' are fllm in the red. tion

BY DAVID MAUDE

THE COURT of Appeal has

KODAK'S

non - TUC reserved judgement in an house union has accep- 10.000-strong ippeal by the ted the Tory Staff pay- Telecommunications Association seeking control norm of £l plus recog- by the Post Office. nition and as a 4 per cent, An officer of the TSA had result 9,400 manual appealed from a decision workers expect increases National Industrial the Relations Court that the of between {189 and Industrial Act Relations £2.56 their basic on does not confer on members rates from April 1. However almost half the workers involved are likely And almost 450 of the house union's claimed 6,000 to be extremely unhappy deal, and this members voted against. about the could spell big trouble for house The union, the the company in a month's Union of Kodak Workers, is time. registered under the Indus- estimated 1,600 An 6t TUC trial Relations Act. 1.700 are members who have their own At the moment it is the unions. much bigger claims in. An- only organization recognized the £62m photographic other 1.000 or so are non- by giant, which has a long his- failed to unionists cast their vote in a ballot on the of hostility to trade tory unionism. offer. Workers Press, Saturday March 17, 1973

PAGE 3

Future of Briant Colour plant nearly decided A DECISION on the fate li understand buyers factory yesterday AT The of Briant Colour's Old improved their previous offer where students and worker for factory when they from outside the plant Kent Road factory, where 105 men and women have

LIC

laulalor this week. of an eviction bid, case been working-in for nine joint shop com- will months. made But the liquidator mittee leader Mr Bill Free- the next 24 to 48 working under heavy pressure from will Sale Tune hours. go on whatever happens.

LWO

Icaol

WILD

preference shares in Briant's Lui datori spokesman The liquidator has already higher figure. hold for still Mr Blandford Baker obtained judgement said yesterday discussions the High Court requiring The were liquidator has said hand WOrkeN over potential buyers, David factory and its contents ThA Brockdorf and Peter made far have fallen to its lawful owners. Bentleyhe market value of the assets. Il, In tot in the interests of any of the talks with the potential parțies for this buyers break down, he business The crunch now rests on WIll much Io Cr. 1uee wnette result the Bentley position for new order to will be in next 48 working squeeze their backers for bringR the occupation to an end. Gasmen say 'vote No!' in ballot

EXIT

NO! - this

VOTE

was tion of the offer and the message from south all-out strike action. ASTMS picket London gasworkers One asked why the when they met to hear General and Municipal officials Union union explain Workers' had the ballot on the latest accepted the idea of a for ICI offer from the Gas ballot in the first place.

Corporation. Voting begins Over 400 of them immediately and union recognition Greenwich officials hope to have packed town hall and cheered all the papers back at speakers from the floor headquarters by next who called for a rejec- Tuesday. TOKEN STRIKES and protest pickets have been called for by the Association of Scien- tific, Technical Managerial Staffs and support of its demand for recognition by chemicals giant ICI. The national day of action is expected to be observed in one way or another by 1,000 ASTMS foremen and supervisors the What company. action they will take is being determined locally.

fibres factory, Northern at c's Kilrool union menders Fibres factory, Ireland, are committed a 24-hour elsewhere there will stoppage, but •emonsu alons. One eSA. does recognize registered trade union O1 a the All staff A lobby of the company's London headquarters the right to take negotia- part In 01 is planned. conell reconde nons are conducted witti Lat union activities on their Union of Post Office

ASTMS-

Britain's eighth largest union- -now employer's premises against Workers. claims a forthcoming recornIon Lord (Master of supervisors and foremen would exclude

MIS

wisues 4.000 Last June, the NIRC ruled

ASTMS

despite the fact that it organizes 25 per The Rolls), WIli Act did not restrict Lord Justice Stephenson cent employer's and Lord proprietary Justice scarman, A union spokesman yesterday dismissed as 'tota rights in respect of his owi commented: •It is a difficult rubbish' suggestions that this was in any way an premises. case. take time to We will ASTMS is fighting a unilateral inter-union dispute. At the moment, the Post consider our judgement.' . Lo Danot on al accanen! bracing three other unions, it was explained.

Kodak refused to discuss The TUC unions Care meet on Monday to decide claim on the grounds the Paid leave for childbirth best press their that it did not recognize th

ACTT,

but union officials claims 101 recordol THE TUC women's conference yesterday called for thev will go on highting specinea departments. One of the

TUC

for it alongside their recog- unions the banning. of private empioyment agencies, which has led the fight for for three months for women workers babies. Private Kodak house union after the birth their agencies recosalon. Assualiol of Cinematograph, Television staff, the Kodak Senior

TOI

* nodo de redaceo ov a we un state service sald and Allied Staff Association, has also the conference, which claims to represent 2.5 million accepted deal based women trade unionists. Women entitled no mitted a claim Kodak for were pay said the 25 El plus 4 per rates on the only to paid leave after giving birth, a aerease IDaSIC coll delegates, but to having their jobs kept apen for olus cost-of-living rise of formula laid down by Phase €2.70. Two of the pay laws. them.

CINDERELLAS OF THE WARDS

PAGE 4. Workers Pro •Saturday. Maro

PART TWO

BY BERNARD FRANKS

A massive drive to cut back hospital ancillary staff while holding down pay was begun by the Labour government and was fully backed by the unions and the TUC. Alan Fisher of NUPE. Above jeft: Hospi Above right: Ancillary workers from W make hospital and nursing staff into l processing non-private patients at the rday. Maroh 17, 1973

TAL

In September 1967, a 22s-a- week pay claim for hospital manual workers was stopped by the Labour government and referred to the National Board for Prices and Incomes for examination, The previous in- crease had been 7s in Novem- ber 1965. The Board's report of March 1967 admitted that these were left: Hospital workers from Roehampton.

s from Wales. The Tory scheme is to taff into workers on a production line, s at the fastest possible speed.

of the lowest-paid some workers in the country. It said their that averaged pay £16 9s 6d in 1966 compared with an average for all other industries of £20 6s 3d. In the Ministry of Labour list of 129 industries: "There were only six industries where men's weekly earnings were lower than those in the hos- pital service.' Nevertheless, the Board slashed the 22s claim down to Ils 3d to be paid on May 1, 1967, and to be tied manner of 'efficiency' to all and 'productivity' measures.

These systems included: re- structuring of the pay scales using job-evaluation; re- arrangement of work and work-places to cut the number workers - using of method study and Organization and Methods (O&M); introduction of work-study and timing of all working operations by stop- watch; introduction of flex- ibility of labour; and a break- down of demarcation lines between jobs. Extra payments were to be by bonus-tied to how fast you worked—or a fixed sum tied to a fixed high rate of working a called system Measured-Day Work. Work-study had been in- troduced into hospital work in

NUPE

OFF:

STR

1958 and the Board said it must be spread throughout the service by 1974. Hundreds of work-study officers had to be taken on. In the meantime a short- term scheme was to be intro- duced in the haste to cut staff.

A 10-per-cent bonus was tied to a 10-per-cent cut in 'labour costs' . Local committees were to be set up 'to work out and put into effect schemes for saving manpower'. This Prices and Incomes Board report (No. 29) was titled 'The Pay and Conditions of Manual Workers in Local National Authorities, the Health Service, Gas and Water Supply. It dealt with the other ser- vices mentioned in the same way as the health service and must be taken as the main policy document of the Labour government on public service wages and conditions at that time. As hospital and the other workers soon found, these schemes have nothing to do with providing a better ser- vice, better working con- ditions, more job-security and better pay. On the contrary, they were a complete swindle concerned only with cutting back staff, skimping the ser- ensuring that the vice and workers never climbed out of the lowest-paid sector. Far from exposing this led fraud, the unions concerned actively took part in it, doing in- the major work of convincing in the workers concerned that these methods were to their benefit. The May 1967 edition of the National Union of Public Employees' journal 'Public Employees' claimed the find- ings of the PIB were 'a drama- tic report which holds out prospects of a new deal for workers in local government and health services' According to Alan Fisher, then NUPE's assistant general secretary, the effect of the in- troduction of productivity bar- gaining, Measured-Day Work and incentive bonus schemes 'would be to bring the earn- ings of local authority and health service employees into a close relationship with the earnings of their counterparts in industry generally. Of the report, he added: It will enable us to produce a well-paid labour force instead nd of the transitory badly-paid labour force we have at pre- sent.' Previously Fisher had been involved in drawing up the PIB's report on the union side. By July 1968 the NUPE journal could boast 'more than half of our full-time officials have been trained in work- study and other management techniques'. Notice here the operative word 'management'.

According the NUPE to "The Ministry journal: of Health agrees that the intro- duction of new methods of and working payment will than offset the money more spent on appointing hundreds of new work-study officers' Hospital authorities are still trying to force these schemes through against hundreds of workers who oppose their in- troduction, but who have been entirely committed to them by the unions. A recent letter from a NUPE member in the journal shows how this situation is continuing: .. coming back to the question of bonus schemes or productivity schemes which the National Health Service are trying to impose on us. A meeting was held recently at St Matthew's hospital, Burnt- wood, between representatives board, union of the regional officials and artisan staff to discuss same. The members of this branch had previously informed our unions that we were unanimously opposed to such a scheme, but, alas, dur- ing the discussion not one union representative made any contribution supporting the members. 'On the contrary, one man did attempt to support the scheme and was promptly told to belt up. When are unions going to realize that they are paid to represent us and not our employers? And when are they also going to realize that craftsmen with years of ex- perience in the trade are not to be dictated Since 1950, the Department of Health has published series of reports on hospital work-study by various hos- pital and local authority O&M anc units. The report on dramatic work advised that one observer could watch several employees at once using 'activity samp- ling'. So-called 'representative times' were given for the work i.e. : Sweeping floors—2.08 minutes per 100 square ft. Sweeping stairs0.33 minutes per square yard. Dusting a chair—0.38 minutes (22.8 seconds). Cleaning lavatory bowl or sluice-one minute. Cleaning urinal stall — 1.56 minutes. The O&M report on porter- ing dealt especially with the need to cut down stand-by time by 10 per cent. It claimed: •People employed in tending the sick are, not unnaturally, to exaggerate prone urgency of a request for assis- tance in the interests of their patient.' It recommended classifying importance of requests assistance as 'immediate', 'as as possible' 'early' and soon 'non-urgent' and urged exten- sion of the pool system for than having rather porters doing specific types of men work. The O&M report on laundry estimated that work costs could be cut by 22 per cent by increasing the scale and output of each laundry. From this followed the sys- tem of transferring the laundry of five or six hospitals to one laundry department. In April 1971 the Prices and Incomes Board produced its second report on ancillary workers' pay and conditions in the health service. (Report No. 166.) The 13,5-page study, begun under a Labour government and completed under the Tories, was based on a ques- tionnaire filled in by 470 hos- pital authorities and on inter- views with 1,000 workers.

It claimed to be looking into the problems of low pay, but explained from the outset that workers in the lowest-paid 10 per cent of the working popu- lation had no right to expect an increase. It said: 'It would be absurd to suggest that all workers in areas of low pay, in the sense that their weekly wages fall below the lowest national decile [10 per cent levell, have a right to have their So the appallingly low-paid could not even expect to step onto the next rung of the pay ladder. The only way to more money was said to be faster introduction of productivity schemes because . .. a general increase in [pay] rates would place an unfair burden on the tax-payer unless it were accom- panied by parallel increases in productivity'. In 1967 the health • service had employed 200 O&M and work-study staff. This had been increased to 620 by 1970 and was to be 1,300 by 1974.

By December 1970, only 4,216 workers were on the schemes 2,093 of which were on Measured-Day Work (mainly ut in domestic work). In fact, the Board found that the schemes, far from being spread throughout the service by 1974, would not be fully in use until 1984 at the present rate of introduction.

According to the report: "The fully work-studied incen- tive schemes introduced have led to average net savings, apart from improvements in standards, of £146 a year for each worker covered.' In spite of the mass of qu Workers Press, Sa publicity and union persuasion in favour of the schemes, the survey found only 41 per cent of men not yet covered by the schemes in favour of them and only 30 per cent of women.

Average bonus earnings were £2.05 for men, £1.84 for Meanwhile, hospital women. workers' pay was falling even further behind. Average total pay for men in the National Health • Service manual work was £21.07 compared with the national for manual average work of £28.05. This was almost double the difference of three years earlier. So much for Fisher's pros- pect of hospital workers' earn- coming into a close ings relationship with the earnings of their counterparts in indus- try generally. Said the report: 'On average, we estimate that around a quarter of the male work force have • earnings in the lowest tenth of earnings for all men in manual work in Great Britain.' The only con- of the Board, however, cern was to prevent bonuses being paid where working levels were not being maintained, and to introduce yet another interim scheme. This was called the Ancillary Work Efficiency Scheme, and was to act as a gradual lead-in to fully work-studied systems.

The scheme itself would not require any reduction in man- power or changes in perform- ance, but would introduce the methods which could later be used to bring about the re- quired cuts in staff. Press, Saturday March 17, 1973 PAGE 5 The setting-up of teams of experts was advised. These would act ' ... for example in a case where a hospital claimed that manpower savings no could be made without jeopardizing the services pro- vided'. Not until the small print of Appendix D, page 121, the report reveal what 'savings' could be made. Discussing a research study into the work of domestics, catering staff it porters and said: 'We estimate that in re- spect of the categories of staff studied a reduction in man- power of about 13 per cent of the total labour force would be achieved through reducing staffing at hospitals with above- average numbers of staff to the defined average for the appro- priate size of hospital.'

An important part of the Tory conspiracy against the health service is the enforced impoverishment of the ancil- lary workers and the nursing staff. Far from any considera- for the importance of tion medical services, main the idea of all these systems is to staffs into turn all hospital tactory hands and the hospitals into just another production line, processing non-private patients at the fastest possible speed and at the lowest pos- sible cost. particular, health and In pensions being thrown are open to the profiteering activi- ties of the City tycoons. The fight to defend and extend the basic right of a free and adequate public health service is of fundamental importance to the entire working class. The encroachment on this and on other basic rights, a process begun by the Labour govern- ment and now being escalated by the Tories, must be deci- sively defeated.

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Saturday March 17, 1973

THE COMMON MARKET REBELS:

On October 28, 1971, the House of Commons passed the following motion: 'That this House approves Her Majesty's Government's decision to join the European Communities on the basis of the arrangements which have been negotiated?

The voting was: Ayes 282; Noes 244—a majority.

of 38 for Edward Heath's Sixty-nine Labour MPs Tory government. defied a three-line whip and voted with the Tories. A further 20 abstained.

NOT INDIVIDUAL

'CONSCIENCES'

BUT A

RIGHT WING PLOT

BY JACK GALE

Several of Here there was opposition those who from Barbara Castle, Richard marched into the Con- Marsh, Douglas Jay and Fred servative lobby on the Peart. Richard Crossman and Common Anthony Wedgwood Benn 'ex- Market vote pressed reservations', but October 28, 1971 on agreed to a 'tentative approach' Ministers in had been the EEC. the Labour Government. According to Kitzinger, the effect food Roy Jenkins, the Labour prices was raised, but it was felt that if, Party's Deputy Leader, had by entry been Chancellor of the Exche- tne largel aale lor (1968), the economy was in an Shirley Williams quer; had (!) increased prices been Minister State for OI absorbed, could be and it it Education and Science, then wasn't they would be in Minister of State for the Home Office. trouble anyway. Following this meeting, Wil- Harold Lever had been Pay- son and Brown toured Europe.

master General; Edward Short In December 1966 they Minister of State had been welC in Rome, in January 1967 in for Education and Science; Strasbourg, February Michael Stewart had been For- Paris and in March in Luxem- Secretary; Ray Gunter eign bourg. It was at the end of this of labour. Vinister that the application for Roy Mason had been Minister unconditional entry was made of Power and then President -and subsequently of the Board of Trade. vetoed bi France's President de Gaulle.

This act of treachery saved the Cabinet Ihe line-up in the trom government Certai time was as follows: defeat—at least half the Tory Harold Wilson, George Brown, anti-Market rebels would have Michael Stewart, Roy Jenkins, stood firm under any circum- Anthony Crosland, Gerald stances-and paved the way Gardiner, Anthony Wedgwood for the Industrial Relations Benn and Ray Gunter were in the Housing Finance Act Act, favour ot entry: on the other and state control of wages, as hand, Douglas Jay, Fred Peart, into the Com- well entry as Denis Healey, Barbara Castle, Market. I01L William Ross, Richard Marsh It was a much larger defec- and Herbert Bowden were tion than had been anticipated against. Anthony Greenwood only a tew months earlier.

inclined alined in Cledwyn recently as May 10, 1971, 'The Hughes inclined favour. Times' had estimated that only That left Jim Callaghan, Pat- 'two score or more' of Labour rick Gordon-Walker, Richard

MPS

would vote pro-Market Crossman, and (outside the -and that on a free vote. Cabinet but involved in its dis- But the way had been Chief Whip John cussions) the pared tor Targe pro-jor Silkin somewhere in between, vote by the weakness of the in the category of 'maybes' on 'lefts', as well as by Labour strategy, though on the duplicity of the Labour the tactics they- -like the rest— leaders. It just is not true, for agreed on the unconditional that thing, the Labour application being tabled in leaders have consistently stood Brussels. out for 'satisfactory terms' for

CABINET

British entry and that they would never have accepted the

SUPPORTS

conditions under which Heath ioined Europe on January 1, 1973.

WILSON

The first formal application All of them wanted a vigor- to join the EEl was made b Harold Wilson's Labour gov- ous and swift follow-up to the ernment in application to leave no doubts This application as to Britain's seriousness and was com- pletely unconditional. to get the issue decided soon.

When Wilson presented the So it was the whole Cabinet, application parliament, he without any hint or threat of said that 'ought that supported collatol Harold Wilson when he made not to be unnecessarily com- the plicated with lesser issues, his announcement House, on May 2, 1967, that many of which can best be dealt with after entry'. Britain would apply. The House According to a recent study approved the Persuasion, (Diplomacy and application overwhelmingly by Uwe Kitzinger, Thames 488 votes in favour only Hudson, £2.75) it 62 against. A mere 35 Labour was al a chequers meeting on October join the Common Market with- 22, 966, that George Brown and Michael Stewart presented out any conditions or safe- guards 260 whatever. And paper European policy which called for Common Labourites voted in favour and Market entry. some 40 or Si abstained. Ministers Seven Labour sacked their parliamentary pri- secretaries vate for voting against the application-and one who did this was the Min- ister of Agriculture, Fred Peart, a 'Tribune'-ite MP who had opposed entry in the Cabi- net, but dutifully voted for it in the Commons. Labour lost the election of June 18, 1970, and negotia- Market entry were tions for taken up by the incoming Tory government. What changed?

The answer is—nothing! In fact only 12 days elapsed between the election and the opening of negotiations. The Tory negotiators, ap- pointed only eight days earlier, simply picked up the dossier prepared for their Labour pre- decessors. The Foreign Office regarded the application as a bipartisan issue and made no change in its negotiating posi- tions as a result of the change in government. In fact, Harold Wilson had been so sure of a Labour vic- tory that he ordered George Thomson, Labour's chief nego- tiator, and his private secre- tary, Crispin Tickell (who was later Anthony Barber's and then Geoffrey Rippon's private secretary). to prepare-at the election cam- height of the paign—-the draft of his open- ing speech at the EEC entry negotiations. It was this draft that formed the bulk of Anthony Barber's presentation at Luxembourg.

(But for the decision of the in June, 1970, electors it would have been Harold Wil- son who received the acco- lades of the European capital- ist class at the end of 1971!)

By this time, with no oppo- sition from the leadership— which, as we have shown, took the same position itself-and with no opposition either from the lefts, the right-wing, 'entry-at-any-price' faction was growing and becoming more vocal. In 'The Guardian' of May 11 the Labour Committee for Europe published a full-page advertisement: 'We, the undersigned parlia- mentarians, are convinced that of social demo- the causes cracy, world peace, and eco- nomic advance in both deve- loped and developing countries would be strengthened by the addition of the United King- dom, Norway, Denmark and Ireland to the European Eco- nomic Community.' This was signed by some prominent European social democrats-—including Willy Brandt, Guy Mollet and Pietro Nenni. It was also signed by 100 Labour MPs, of whom eight were Shadow Cabinet members and 23 more sat on the Opposition front bench.

These developments led to growing concern among the Party's rank and file at the increasingly pro-Tory swing within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Yet the leader- ship made an attempt to pre- vent any discussion of the EEC at the Party's 1970 conference by trying to resurrect an old regulation that no issue could be discussed more than once within three years. Then they avoided a real discussion by promising a spe- cial conference if the parlia- mentary vote on entry seemed likely to be held before the 1971 Party conference. In fact such a special con- ference was held—on July 17, 1971—after a majority of only one on the NEC in favour of calling it. But this conference was ren- dered impotent at its outset when it voted by 3,185,000 to 2,624,000 to accept an NEC recommendation that it should be purely consultative and take no decisions. Hugh Scanlon of the AUEW called on the conference to take a firm decision and to make it binding on all MPs.

However, Scanlon himself has not pressed for any action against AUEW MPs who voted with the Tories. These include Charles Pannel of West Leeds and Ben Ford of Bradford.

Neither has Scanlon's 'left twin', Jack Jones of the

T&GWU,

taken any action against Maurice Foley (West Bromwich), Robert Sheldon (Ashton-under-Lyne), or John Silkin (Debtford). When the Labour Party con- ference convened at Brighton in October 1971-a few weeks

pre-

EEC

rence could real • spe- arlia- emed the con- y 17, only ur of utset

NEC

hould and

UEW

a to MPs. f has CLOn voted clude Leeds d. 'left the (West eldon John ghton weeks before the vital Commons vote -a recommendation from the NEC opened the door for the pro-Marketeers. It merely 'invited the Par- liamentary Labour Party. •• to unite wholeheartedly against the government's policy' From then on the manoeu- vres of the right wing became more bold. It must be stressed that the Common Market vote was NOT an act of individuals 'acting in accordance with their consciences' but an orga- nized right-wing plot. A key figure in this was Douglas Houghton, the mem- ber for Sowerby and chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party. While the political leader of the group, Roy Jen- kins, had to tread carefully, the PLP chairman acted as a channel of communication be- tween the Labour rebels and the inner core of the Tory government. On the Tory side the main 'contact man' was William Whitelaw, the present Minis- ter of State for Northern Ireland. But the organizing force behind the right-wing conspi- was William Rodgers, racy Labour member for Stockton- on-Tees. This man had served his aprenticeship in intrigue when he master-minded the pro- Gaitskellite Campaign for which Democratic Socialism worked to overturn the Uni- lateral Disarmament decision Party's taken at the Labour 1960 conference.

RODGERS

LEAKS TO

THE PRESS

Discreet notes, signed W. T Rodgers, informed potential 'rebels' that 'some of us' were little holding a quiet discus- and sion at various times One of Rodgers's first places. tasks was to scotch the idea of mass abstention, call vassed by James Wellbeloved, for Erith and Cray- member ford, and insist on organizing for complete line-up with the Tories. Another of Rodgers's ploys was to leak information to the the night the Brigh- Press on ton conference voted against entry indicating there would be a mass revolt in parliament. It was a result of this 'leak' that "The Guardian' next day headlined 'Market Could Get 70 Labour Votes'. Rodgers closed the last meeting of his group in early October with the words: 'So we'll meet in the lobby, then There is no doubt that the right-wing strength in the Par- Party liamentary Labour 69 who siderably exceeds the voted outright with the Tories.

The 20 who abstained were clearly in full support of the 69. The main reason for ab- staining fear of was being kicked out by their constitu- ency parties or by their spon- soring unions. But there were also another 20 Labourites who- although voting in line with the whip- were politically sympathetic to the Jenkins-Rodgers clique.

One of these was the Chief Whip himself-Robert Mellish -who was staunch pro- Marketeer. In the early sum- he had opened the im- position of a three-line whip on the question and admitted that he himself was prepared to vote for entry. Also, the Rodgers group had decision taken a that two other whips should vote against entry in order to re- tain their positions. A fourth whip-Alan Fitch, member for Wigan- -resigned his post and abstained. Little wonder that Labour's three-line whip ineffec- was tive!

FOUR MAJOR

UNIONS

IN FAVOUR

In fact, several of the pro- Marketeers who voted against influenced not by were Ene whips' office, but by their own Constituency Labour Parties. One of these was the member Shoreditch for and Finsbury, Mr Ronald Lord Brown. George-Brown's brother. The pro-Market right active in the unions as was well as in the Parliamentary Labour Party. At Brighton four major unions had been in Tory favour of entry on the These were Lord terms. Cooper's General and Munici- Workers' Union pal (with 650,000 votes), D. H. Davies' Sir Steel David) Iron,

(LOW

and Kindred Trades Associa- tion (91,642 votes), Roy Gran- tham's Clerical and Adminis- trative Workers (80,530 votes) and Jack Peel's Dyers, Bleach- ers & Textile Workers (49,000 votes. At the party co for there had been calls serious pro-Tory action against any rebels. Mr Jack Brooks, Cardiff SE, had said: I hope there are consequences. If they into the and support lobbies the most hard-faced bunch of the freebooters since coupon men of 1918, this party will never forgive them.' Two days later, Ian Mikardo the 'Tribune'-ite MP, who was that year's Labour Party chair- told a "Tribune' meeting: man, 'If, as the newspapers are saying this morning, a squalid deal has been done to allow 60 pro-Market Labour MPs to their cake and have it- eat deal which wil make us offensive to our friends and a welcome laughing stock to our 60 con- enemies--then those stituency parties will have the right. and some of them mar exercise it, to pass a verdict res8, Saturday March 17, 1973 PAGE 7 Mellish, Above left: Robert Labour's Chief Whip, In political with the rebels'. agreement Centre: William Rodgers MP, organized the Market rebela, Dro-Tory Common , and also had a hand in the Gaitskellite Labour Fitth column In 1961. Right: Roy Jenkins, leading pro-Marketeer.

on that shabby manoeuvre.

But the right wingers were not to be deterred by words which remained unmatched by actions. At the PLP meeting on October 19, 87 right wing- voted for Michael Stew- ers art's motion for entry into the Market on the terms agreed by the Tories, 89 voted against Wilson's proposal to oppose the Tories and 111 voted for a call for a free vote on the issue. The parliamentary vote of October 28 revealed that some 109 Labour MPs shared the conviction of the Tories on joining the capitalist conspi- racy against the working class known as the Common Mar- ket. These people are standard- bearers for coalition govern- ment. They are agents of Toryism within the ranks of Labour and must be immediately swept aside. They must be replaced by socialists selected i the basis of their under- takings to fight for socialist the policies. No more Tavernes! Kick the right wing out!

CIA MONEYTAKES TAMPOE

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Saturday Mar Part two of a series on revisi The complete political bankruptcy of Jaya Vithana is shown by the way he scratches around desperately for bits of 'dirt' to put in the International Marxist Group's pamphlet 'Cey- Ion and Healy School of Falsification' and which he thinks he can use against the Socialist Labour League. He comes up with the shat- fact that in 1964 the tering League's national secretary, Gerry Healy, stayed at a hotel in Ceylon, which had pre- viously been by patronized Central Intelligence Agency men. This after nine years! He cannot, of course, establish any shadow of connection between our secretary and such agents.

He knows very well that Com- rade Healy went to Ceylon as a party member doing party work-and that the trip was paid for by the Socialist Labour League. By sharp contrast, Vithana's Unified Secretariat is forced to admit that the secretary of its Ceylonese section, Bala Tampoe, made a trip to the United States that was paid for by the CIA! Any one of the actions which urday March 17, 1973 1 revisionism and Ceylon by Jack G the Secretariat's Ceylon Com- mission established had been committed by Tampoe would merit expulsion from a genuine Trotskyist organization. Vithana has to admit that Edmund Samarakkody laid these serious charges against Tampoe and demanded that the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary) be disaffiliated from the International. And he tells us that the Ninth World Congress decided not to disaffiliate Tampoe's group.

But, according to him, such serious charges were not even investigated! And this he con- siders to be a defence! He claims there was no Commission, no in- Ceylon vestigations and no reports. in doing this, he con- But, flicts not only with us-but with the Unified Secretariat's publication 'Intercon- own tinental Press'. This journal - edited by Joseph Hansen and with Pierre Frank, Livio Maitan, Ernest Mandel and George Novack as contributing editors - carried November 20, 1972, an on official statement of the Unified Secretariat of the Fourth Inter- national dated October 29.

We published this statement -'Healyites Smear Bala Tam- Jack Gale. poe'-in full in Workers Press on December 7, 1972. It de- clared: "The author of the articles in articles [i.e. the Press in October Workers 1972] indicates as his source of information only Edmund Samarakkody, former fac- tional opponent of Tampoe.

'An investigation undertaken by us in 1969 showed that the slander was cooked up and put into circulation originally by the former Trotskyists in Ceylon who betrayed the movement.' We showed, in Workers Press of December 7, that our sources were not only Samarak- kody, but official documents of the Unified Secretariat re- leased by him. We also showed that Sama- rakkody was not just a 'fac- tional opponent of Tampoe' but a member of the revision- ists' International Executive Committee who attended their World Congress. The point here, however, is th t in attempting to answer Vithana denies our charges, by the existence of documents which every leading member of the Unified Secretariat and of IMG knows do in fact exist and which have been publicly acknowledged by their highest international body. In quoting this statement Intercontinental from the ent Press', we have shown Vithana m- to be a liar and the leadership of IMG to be a collective body of liars. know, as we know, They that the members of the Ceylon Commission included Therese, Kailas, Pia, Peng and Abel, Okatini. They know, as we know, that a motion from Pia asking to be removed from the Commission was defeated.

They know, as we know, that a resolution from Abel, follow- ing the report of the Ceylon called for Commission, investigation by the further International Control Com- • was defeated by mission and 14 votes to 28 with eight abstentions. They know, as we know, that Bala Tampoe was then nominated for the International Committee by Executive 'Walter" and elected unani- mously. We printed the extracts from the proceedings of their Ninth World Congress dealing with all these matters in Workers Press on December 6. Any honest IMG member knows that this is the truth.

They know that the majority report, referring to the charges mentioned above, said: 'In none of these instances is there any evidence that the party [i.e. the LSSP(R)] took what the : Commission considered a policy consistent with revolu- tionary Marxism.' (Workers Press, December 4.) And they know that the hip minority report of the Indian Left: Tampoe (with followers) Mercantile leaas 1 Union a Ceylon Right: demonstration. Edmund Samarakkody who laid the charges against Tampoe.

member of the Commission argued that the LSSP(R) had placed itself 'in the camp of the enemy as opposed to workers in action'. (Workers Press, December 5.) Every serious member of IMG-and of any other sec- tion of the Unified Secretariat -knows that our report was and that Vithana's the truth pamphlet is a deliberate and clumsy lie which clashes even with the official statements of their own International Execu- tive Committee. Their own Commission found Tampoe guilty of travelling to States on CIA the United funds, scabbing on strikes and honouring British imperialism and ex-Nazis-as we showed in the detailed quotations from their documents. Any self-respecting organ- ization in the labour move- ment-and certainly one claim- ing to be Trotskyist-would have instantly expelled such a man from its ranks. But your International, IMG members, re-elected this scab and renegade to its Executive Committee!

CONTINUED MONDAY

The Tories have an answer to the chronic problem of unemployed youth in Black- pool. They are recruiting them into the army. Figures just released show that junior enlistments this higher than in the year are two previous years. In 1970- 1971, 34 boys signed up; 1971-1972 there were 35; and in 1972-1973 there are already 66. Major James Seed, careers information officer for north Lancashire, said the army was so pleased with the results that they opened a new office in Blackpool on March 2.

IN EEC

The intriguing story of the inaugural meeting of the Euro- pean Trade Union Confedera- tion in Brussels last month— apart from Victor Feather's acceptance of a lucrative Euro- job—was the application by the Soviet Union to join the newly-formed body. When this was reported in the Tory Press in Britain, the Communist Party's 'Morning Star' took a curious line. "special correspondent Its reported but the application, that it had been 'officially denied'. Denied by whom? All is revealed, however, in the EEC's official publication called 'European Community'.

The journal says that the Soviet trade unions and those in the Warsaw Pact countries did apply for membership of the new confederation: "The request had been made verbally in Moscow ten days before the congress by Soviet Central Trade Union Council president Alexander Shelepin to Herr Vetter [Heinz Oskar Vetter, president of the West German TUC]. 'Herr Vetter reported this and it was noted by Congress.'

In other words, the applica- tion has been formally noted Heinz Oscar Vetter in the minutes of the inaugural meeting. Now it can be ex- plained why the 'Morning Star' absolutely silent about was Feather's disgraceful abandon- ment of TUC policy and his the job of acceptance of president of the new con- federation. 'Star' can't attack The Feather or transport union secretary Jack Jones for par- ticipating in EEC institutions while Stalinist leaders in eastern Europe are seeking an accommodation with the same capitalist-inspired bodies.

BOOK REVIEW

The Spanish Trotsky. price {4.15 Leon York). £1.65 paperback.

BY TOM KEMP PART 5

Lutte pointed out, petty terest of the They remain in the cro leaders of the formers, and POUMists. touch •rIVale they stoop private property'. to Nin, CuLC tice Menl The policy 'has sur sants and defeat'. In fact, government occupied whi committees

SCL

193 their allies this should be

POUM

and leaders powers of the and courts were powerful for internal up and while pons, fror with conditions that bou Concus ons Spanish peded rev on the Sion Trotsky made quite clear: "ine assi of Dul advocate,

IT I

days later, vict got or lasting' of the working bou civil camp. hope to fro party. This necessarily the who, Catalan Stalinists, were By Pathfinder Press cloth. SuD- the In 11 - bourgeoisie. camp of the alas, dare not and of bovell-

POUM

it was the which Nin July In that done. The Anarchist The restored. force was built wea- at the I rifles, if was Nin, 'the of Trials, position the policy Stalin's As he pul military result the victorious brought the LO and the out the coovennne learned nothing. only weeks events in POUM was the the road of and had tion the Popular Nin was still the workers peaceful means Stalinists were shock troops to King class strongholds in finally establisł of the bou тасу and police. The last hope r the POUM sively from the middle-class anarcho-syndicalist But the besenel Andrade Nin, was incapable of 1 break 'The whi the leadersh in proclaimed. The events May caught ers unawares weeks expulsion

POUM.

Barcelona fought for had tion thej POUM's pretensions and ex leadership. again, to save Ni GPU uni lona, he was tortur Stalin murdered. rate no opponer lett even those : and vacillating as In the May days continued to of its leade entry coven menu that the working come to power wi to arms. Trotsky 1937: 'If the Catalan had seized power -as it had really July 1936—they found support The Spain. reaction would not h the cats

TWO

Catalan crush the territory Franco, not only also the peasants turned towards proletariat, lated the fascis brought about its lisintegration While this pol make victor the union of bourgeois reaction

POUM

backed- only to defeat for class, whatever t air-raid by and still the May the revolu- talking about by while the the preparing its last Catalonia and the the leaders. of and Gorkin Trotsky POUM lead- the when the class seriously revolutionary failure, act decisively, Nin. Arrested Barce- could tole- the indecisive re- the proclaimed class could the decisive Drolelalid would have throughout with which In occupied by would have the Catalan have Iso- army and not certain, the Stalinism and which the lead * Workers Press, Salt • Franco's Forces. of the Civil War. As Trotsky put it: The Spanish revolution again demonstrates that once it is impossible to defend de- mocracy against the revolu- tionary masses otherwise than through the methods of fascist reaction. And, conversely, it is impossible to conduct genuine struggle against fas- cism otherwise than through the methods of the proletarian revolution.' That was what the centrists would never admit. In the 'Lessons of Spain: the Last Warning', written in December 1937, Trotsky drew a balance sheet of the Spanish using his experience events, of the Russian Revolution and characterizing the role of the different tendencies. In it he strips bare the 'theory' of the Front, exposes the Popular betrayals of the Stalinists and explains why the Socialists and the Anarchists capitulated to the demands of the Soviet bureaucracy. So the Popular Front allies tolerated the crimes of the GPU on the basis of 'saving at any cost private property from the proletariat, and say- ing as far as possible demo- from Franco'. The cracy Popular Front had promised the bourgeoisie that it would defend bourgeois property. The Anarchists entered the government as Ministers and 'turned out, to the great sur- prise of the whole world and themselves, to be a fifth wheel in the cart of bourgeois demo- cracy. But not for long; a fifth wheel is superfluous' It was not surprising that Anarchists in other countries, to distract attention from the disgraceful of capitulation their Spanish friends, began vociferously to raise the bogey of Krondstadt and Makhno.

Despite its adherance to the theory of the permanent re- volution, the POUM's record better. Instead was no mobilizing the masses against includ- the reformist leaders, ing the Anarchists, the POUM tried to convince these gentle- of the superiorities of men socialism capitalism'. over And Trotsky spelled out with deliberate emphasis: 'Contrary to its own inten- tions, the POUM proved to be, in the final analysis, the chief obstacle on the road to the creation of a revolutionary party' • Trotsky had to strip bare the POUM and expose its role because of the sympathy which it had been accorded by the centrists, both in the London Bureau and among 'platonic or diplomatic par- tisans of the Fourth Inter- national', potential Nins in their own countries. Press, Saturday Marct 17, 1973 PAGE 9 Spain also demonstrated that it was impossible to fight fascism without overthrowing capitalism. The working class was strong enough to conquer power, as it showed in the opening days of the military insurrection and again in Bar- celona in May 1937. What was lacking was the revolu- tionary party. From the start of the revo- lution in 1931, Trotsky had to reckon with the fact that the leadership cadre for such a party was small and weak; he had to try to shape it into a Bolshevik leadership. He took Nin as the starting point because of his undoubted qualities and his experience in the Spanish workers' move- ment. Looking back in 1939, Trot- sky wrote: We put all our, hopes on Nin, and his policy consisted of personal ma- noeuvres in order to avoid res- ponsibility. He played with the revolution. He was sincere, but his whole policy was that of a Menshevik. It was a tre- to mendous handicap, and fight against this handicap only correct formulas falsified by our own representatives in Nins, the first period, the made it very difficult.' Nin entered a centrist for- mation, the POUM, which put a brake upon the revolu- tion and was destroyed while doing so. It fell victim to the contradictions in its own policy. It wanted, the on one hand, to participate in the Re- publican government and to enter as a loyal peace-loving opposition into the general bloc of ruling parties; on the other hand, to achieve peace- ful comradely relations at a it was a question time when of implacable civil war. For this reason the POUM fell victim to the contradictions of its own policy' The POUM proved to be no match for the Stalinists, who pursued a consistent as the 'fighting policy van- guard of the bourgeois-repub- lican counter-revoluțion. They wanted to eliminate the need for fascism by proving to the Spanish and world bourgeoisie that they were themselves cap- able of strangling the prole- tarian revolution under the banner of "democracy". This was the gist of their policies.'

The apologists for the Po- pular Front could not unload responsibility onto the GPU.

which only acted as 'the most resolute detachment in the service of the Popular Front'.

It did, of course, extend the methods of the Moscow Trials and purges into Spain, aimed all revolutionaries. at It can be added that when Stalin began to turn towards an alliance with Nazi Germany in 1939 he hastily brought to an end the Soviet commitment in Spain. Togliatti and the functionaries of the other GPU made a hasty and igno- minious flight, leaving the Re- publican fighters to their fate and washing their hands of the Spanish working class.

Trotsky's writings on Spain have stood up to the test of while nothing which events, the Stalinists and other ten- dencies produced at the time be read today without can adding to their discredit as the betrayers of the Spanish revolution. But they do not only pro- vide an incomparable account of the Spanish revolution and the reasons for its tragic failure. They also contain lessons for today enormous and it is for this reason above all that they conserve their freshness and must be studied in all sections of the Inter- national Committee of the Fourth International as part of the struggle against Stalinism and centrism.

PAGE 10 Workers Press. Saturdav March 17. 1973

SATURDAY TV

BBC 1

ITV

Repondez sil Music 10.00 plait. 10.30- off. the round. vous 0.55 11.00 Croesi'r 9.55. Return bont. 11.25 Sesame street. 11.30 Herbs. 11.45 Peyton 12.30 Nonds: 12:00 Motor Outa-space. 12.30 11.20 Cartoon Grandstand Partridge family Finnegan World of Sport. 44u Un Ine Dallo 1e 2.20 ohn. Racing International ports aspecial: Seve Newcastle: from Chepstow Motor 3.00 Racing 2.45 Racing Calcutta England 1.45, 2.15,

CUD.

Scotland. Specield 3.50 3.10 special Results, scores. Who. 4.50 Results servi 5.45 Black 6.15

TOM AND JERRY.

Doctor at

SALE OF THE

6.20

FILM:

•FLIGHT

6.15

EATNTURY THE

ASHIYA'. Yul Brynner, Richard 6.45

FILM

•BENEATH

George Chakiris. Widmark,

TWELVE MILE

REEF'. Robert 8.00

THE

SOUND

Terry OF Roland A Gilbert Songs the Beatles with Roland. love Petula Clark. 8.30

EMERY SHOW.

ENGELBERT:

BITCHA

8.30 Engelbert 9.00 & of Prayer.

CALLED IRONSIDE.

NEWS:

FRoM with. rdinck guests Ring 9.30

NEWS.

9.50 Weather. 9.40

COLUMBO.

Requiem. For A 10.05

MATCH

OF THE DAY.

Falling Star. Peter 11.05

PARKINSON.

Guest James 11.00

RUSSELI

HARTY

PLUS

Stewart. 11.50

OVERCOME.

12.05 Weather. 11.55

DEPARTMENT S.

BBC 2

University.

ATH ME OC

2.30 Film: 8.25

FACE

9.00 Part Roll Van Johnson, 9.50

FULL

Garland, Heflin, 4.40 Play Including Dinah Shore. Musical. 40 Osibisa and their The way. The British 5.05 Pets Filleting Machine, Ship of the and vets. The Dance, livier Soccer 7.05

WEST.

MAN

ALIVE.

Jack Built. Messiaen.

MINSTER.

NEWS ON

Weather, 7:40

NEWS

AND

SPORT.

T1.35

FILM:

Weather.

MADAME

Lana Ricardo

RUCRY SPECTAT.

80th Burgers Meredroo lurner, Cup match. England v Scotland.

Montalban, Burgess

HAMES GAS 8090

PLEASE

KEEP THESE

GATES CLEAR

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REGIONAL TV SAT

CHANNEL:

11.35 Bonanz London. 12.30 London. 5.20 Tarzan. 6.15 6.45 Persuaders. 7.40 Film: 'The Frog- men'. 9.30 London. 7.40 Engelbert: 10.40 Parade. 11.25 Spyforce. 12.15 Weather.

WESTWARD.

As Channel except: 9.55 Jobs around the house. 10.20 Foreign flavour Gus 10.45 Joe 90. 11.10 Carroon. 11.30 Honeybun. 12.15 Faith for life. 12.20 Weather.

SOUTHERN: 9.15 Jobs around the house. 9.40 Foreign flavour. 10.10 All Merrie melodies. 11.35 Africa. 12.25 Weather. 12.30 London.

Persuaders. Film: 5.15 Tarzan. 6.10 7.05 Sale of the 7.35 century. 'Georgy Girl'. 9.30 London. _9.40 Engel- Deednesday. NeWs Weatser. Guideline.

10.45 Film:

HARLECH:

9.00 Shooting. 9.30 London. 9.55 Time to remember. 10.20 Bugs Bunny. 10.30 Once upon a time.

10.45 Grasshopper island. 11.00_ Sesame street. 12.00 Osmonds. 12.30 London.

5.20 It takes a thief. 6.15 Persuaders.

do? 7.45 Film: "The Reward". 9.30 London. 9.40 Engel- bert. 10.40 Parade. 11.25 Name of the game. 12.45 Weather.

REGIONAL TV SUN

CHANNEL: 11.30-1.00 London.

2.13 Weather. 2.15 London. •3.15 Film: 'Cash On Demand'. 4.40 Golden shot.

5.35 Black Beauty. 6.05 London. 7.25 On the Defec- buses. 7.55 Film: The tor'. 9.30 Upper crusts. 10.00 London.

12.25 Epilogue. Weather.

WESTWARD.

As Channel except: 9.00 London. 10.30 All our yesterdays.

11.00 Gus Honeybun. 11.05 Tom- foolery. 1.00 Talking hands. 1.15 Branded 2.20 Faminsor 1.55 Acres for profit. 12.20 Faith life. 12.25 Weather. SOUTHERN: 9.00 London. 10.30 Farm- ing. 10.55 Weather. 11.00 World War I. 11.30 London. 1.00 Superman. 1.20 Lucy. 1.50 Jimmy Stewart. 2.15 London. 3.15 Fenn Street. 3.45 Cartoon. 3.55 Golden shot. 4.45 Parade. 5.30 News. 5.35 Black beauty 6.05 London. 7.25 On the buses. 7.55 Film: •The Scalphunters'. 9.50 Cartoon. 10.00 London. 12.25 Weather.

Guideline. HARLECH: 9.30 London. 10.35 Farm- ing. 11.00 Gardening. 11.30 London. 1.00 University challenge;.15 London.

1.30 Drive- 2.00 Bugs Bunny. 3.15 Film: Three Spree'. 4.40 on Golden shot. 5.35 Black Beauty. 6.05 London. 7.25 On the buses. 7.55 Film:

SUNDAY TV

BBC 1

9.00 Nai zindagi naya jeevan. 9.30 Repondez s'il 10.00-10.25 vous plait. Aarmntu 1.15 10.30-11.30 Service. 12.50 Farming. Made in Britain News. 1.30 Parents and children. 1.55 Mary, Midtee* 215 2.00 Mungo and Midge. Shari Lewis show. 2.25 Animal 2.55 The French way. game. " Three'. •Soldiers 3.25 Film: Stewart Giann. Rober teew Pid405 Race od Walter David Niven; champions. 5.40 A little princess.

6.05 NEWS. Weather. 6.15

THE SUNDAY DEBATE.

The Distribution of Wealth, APPEAL 55 SONGa 3F 6.50

PRAISE.

7.25

THE

BROTHERS. Tightrope.

"THE

8.15

FILM:

MALTESE

FALCON'•

Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor. NEWS. Weather. 9.50 10.05

IT MUST BE SOMETHING IN

THE

WATER.

Omnibus film about Sadler's Wells Theatre.

KENNETH

11.00

HARRIS

INTER-

VIEWS. Ludwig Rosenberg. 11.45 Weather.

BBC 2

8.55-12.40 Open University. 3.55 Man at work. 4.20 Money work. 5.20

SUMMARY.

STORY OF CARL GUSTAV

WORLD ABOUT US. Into the Valley. The wilds of Canada.

BEYOND A JOKE.

Anthony Nicholls plays Clement Pear the third of BBC 2's serles of four S 'The Pearcross Girls'. sisters,

'SATURDAY

HTV

Cymru/Wales above as except: 5.20 Upper crusts. 5.45-6.15 Tra bo dau. ATV MIDLANDS: 9.15 Jobs around the house. 9.40 Foreign flavour. 10.10 Skippy. 10.35 Jackson five. 11.00 Film: "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jeky!!

12.30 and Mr Hyde'. London. 5.15 Bonanza. 6.15 Film: 'Band of Angels'.

8.30 Longstreet. 9.30 London. 9.40 Engelbert. 10.40 Parade. 11.30 Gordon Bailey. 11.35 Film: "Thief'. Weather.

ULSTER: 10.30

Sesame street. 11.30 Thunderbirds. 12.30 London. 5.15 Sport-do you do? 6.45 On the Beverly hillbillies. 6.15 Who buses. "The High Window'. 8.30 7.15 Film: London. 9.40 Longstreet. 10.40 Parade.

11.25 Liam Clancy and friends.

YORKSHIRE: 9.15 Looking at . . . 9.40 Foreign flavour. 10.10 Osmonds. 10.35 Elephant boy. 11.05 Film: "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'. 12.30 don don Ss Persie Tho do Persuaders. 'Invitation to a Gunfighter'. 9.30 News.

9.40 Engelbert. 10.40 Parade. 11.20' lo see ourselves. 11.50 Dr. Simon Locke. 12.20 Weather.

SUNDAY

"The Way of the Gold'. 10.00 London.

12.25 Weather. HTV Cymru/Wales as above except: 6.40-7.00 Swn y jiwbili. ATV MIDLANDS: 9.00 London. 10.30 All our yesterdays. 11.00 Citizens' rights. 11.30 London. 1.00 Champions.

2.00 Soccer. 3.00 Film: "The Day Will Dawn'. 4.40 Golden shot. 5.35 Black Buses. 7.59 6.05 London. 7.25 On the buses. Film: Knights of the Round Table'. 10.00 London.

ULSTER: 11.00 VAT. 11.30 London.

1.00 Foreign flavour. 1.30 Jobs around 1.55 Pebbles and bamm the house. bamm. 2.15 London. 3.15 Film: "The Three Musketeers', 4.40 Golden shot. 5.35 Black Beauty. 6.05 London. Giant 7.23 Sport. 7.25 Film: 'Cast a Shadow'. 10.00 London. YORKSHIRE: 9.00 London. 10.30 Un- tamed world. 11.00 Bewitched. 11.30 London. 1.00 Farming. 1.25 Calendar. •Pimpernel 1.55 2.50 Film: Smith'. 4.45 5.35 Black Beauty. 6.05 London. 7.25 On the Leaves'. bu.oo London. I22s Weather.

7.55 Film: •Autumn

GRANADA:

9.30 London. 10.35 Untamed world. 11.00 Time to remem- ber. 11.30 London. 12.55 Saint. 1.55

ITV

9.00 VAT 73. 9.30 Service. 10.35 UFO.

11.30 Weekend world. 1.00 Thunder- birds. 1.50 Look up. 2.15 Big match.

3.15 O'Hara-US Treasury. 4.15 Junior five. 4.30 Golden shot. 5.25 police Parade. Two ballets. 6.05

NEWS. 6.15

ADAM SMITH.

6.40 SUNDAY QUIZ.

7.00

SONGS THAT MATTER.

WHO DO YOU DO?

7.25 7.55 FILM: 'RAGE'. Glenn Ford, Stella Stevens. A young doc- tor's wife and unborn child die during an operation. 9.30 THE UPPER CRUSTS. Sitting Pretty. 10.00

NEWS FROM ITN

10.15 PLAY: 'Achilles Heel'. Martin Shaw. 11.25

FROST PROGRAMME.

12.20 Anne Strode WE

OVERCOME.

Broder and Tony Abrahams.

SCALES

OF JUSTICE. The 12.25 Hidden Face.

8.45 MARTTI

TALVELA.

Pro- ft 8 in gramme about the 6 Finnish bass. 9.50

THE PEARCROSS GIRLS.

Anna All Alone. 10.40

THEY SOLD

A

MILLION.

Young Vince Hill and The Generation with Georgia Brown and Chris Montez. 11.25 NEWS ON 2. Weather.

nent Pearcross In 'Anna All Alone'— of four Sunday night plays about four

GRANADA:

9.15 lobs arcund the house. 9.40 Foreign flavour. 10.05 You 1301 1035 and Sesame street. Follyfoot. 12.00 Huckleberry Finn. 12.30 London. 5.20 Big valley. Film: "Pirates of Tortuge. 2,40 6.15 Engelbert. 10.40 Parade. Film: 'Quiet Please, Murder'. 12.40 Seaway.

TYNE TEES: 9.15 Wild life theatre.

9.40 Foreign flavour. 10.10 Osmonds. 10.35 Joe 90. 11.05 Film: 'Abbott and Costello Frankenstein'. Meet 12.30 London. 5.15 Who do Riptide. 6.15 you do? 6.45 Persuaders. 7.40 Film: *Invitation London.

SCOTTISH:

9.15 Jobs around the house. 9.40 Foreign flavour. 10.10 Funky phantom. 10.35 Black beauty. 11.05 Joe 90. 11.30 Osmonds. 12.00 Cavalcade. 12.30 London. 5.15 6.10 Protectors. Bonanza. 6.40 Film: "Flight of the Phoenix'. 9.30 London.

9.40 Engelbert. 10.40 Late call. 10.45 Name of the game.

GRAMPIAN: 11.15

Jackson five. 11.45 Ron and friends. 12.30 London.

5.15 UFO. 6.15 Who do you do? 6.45 Sky's Engeibert. 930 London. Peo on Engelbert. London. street. 10.40 Parade. 11.25 O'Hara.

On the line. 2.25 Football. 3.20 Film: "The Name of the Game'. 4.40 Golden shot. 5.35 Black Beauty. 6.05 London. 7.25 On the buses. 7.55 Film: 'Stranger in the House'. 9.50 Cartoon. 10.00 London. TYNE TEES: 9.00 London. 10.30 Jobs around the 11.00 Ugliest house. girl in town. 11.30 London. 1.00 Farming.

1.25 World War I. 1.50 Where the iobs are. 1.55 Big match. 2.55 Film: •I Believe in You'. 4.45 Golden shot.

5.35 Black Beauty. 6.05 London.

7.25 On the buses. 7.55 Film: "The Ambushers'. 10.00 London. 12.25 Lectern. SCOTTISH: 10.00 World War I. 10.30 Women. 11.00 You pays your money London. 1.00 Champions Tobruk'. 'Rage'. 9.30 Comedians. 10.00 London.

12.25 Late call.

GRAMPIAN: 11.00

Farm • progress. 11.30 London. 1.00 Foreign flavour. 1.30 Jobs around the house. 2.00 Sport. 3.25 Film: "Sally's Irish Rogue'.

4.40 Golden shot. 5.35 Black Beauty. 6.05 London. 7.25 On the buses.

7.55 Film: The Long Duel'. 10.00 London of living 12.25 A kind

Workers Press, Saturday March 17, 1973

PAGE 11

The Home Yrery Secretary Haj9e doesn't need new laws Right: long I ne blue line in •newsol Heneowecome the marchers assembling on Thursday. THE COURTS are determined to stamp out mass picketing by making an example of the 24 building workers sent for trial at Shrewsbury on Thursday. Home Secretary Robert Carr is already examining the law in relation to pickets in the wake of last winter's miners' strike. He is under heavy pres- 1875 Act sure trom the Contedera- of tion Industry AriSh to take a tough line with those who, director W. O.

Campbell A damson respect Clanus. nave virtually for rules or democracy'. Section 134 In- of the Relations Act austri?! says that picketing lawful provided it doe outlaws constitute criminal not offence. The bosses woula ike lt spelled out WULKeNS ten what toot h10 h letters sort of picketing constitutes picketing oucuce. But if Carr is taking his time, it is because the police already of have welter which, it applied laW Tel- giously, could all but out- picketing. law

BY OUR OWN REPORTER

An important part oi tnis legal arsenal is the Conspi- Ing ol workers or the pud• AT nO ume in the long racy and Protection of Pro- lic, attempts to break history of trade union legis- Students' 'Evidence was through perly

ACE

unaer police lation legal cordons. salicliul which the 24 building given any other alarming, uosertnd pro- Deen kers have been charged. yok ideliverymers; workers, the public form of picketing than the president 1he Act torbids the use short peaceful of talcaliull of intimidation, fabricated': virlualy anvunne nornalor watching and besetting peaceful obtaining The employers the or COlll- ana barred from breach of of that this information. inducing municating police argue can tract. miners' be aruicie aone ovaanom. pickets at Longannet power is mse en tin pet le aso decrees

TAAT

РГО• Three detectives college vided an act or acts com- published the almost Carr certain mitted pickets by Industrial lournal. LaW Inroauce legislaton punishable as crimes in cer Liverpool law lecturer Peter severely limiting pickets'

BY OUR OWN

tain cases, workers can be Wallington says: numbers.

CORRESPONDENT

*Basically suspended charged conspiracy. form of dil) llauc ullons

STUDENT

Six oi the bullding workers leader Angela mass oickewae amost mev. causan have been so charged. tably involves the commis- and in 1875 under the Con- Littlewood has been banned addition to the 1875 of offences. sion and Protection suudly teachers' trom her training

THREE

DETECTIVES from forces in the legislation, possible picketing can be Summing the Act were roDere impact of the law if it were construed as a common law given the right to picket High Midlands have igation ipto allegations ty college Court Dy to be be applied rigorously peacefully. allegations aiter in investigation into judge for demanding recog- obstruction pickets, he to be 'The eftect says. Dur unev nave never been fabricated evidence. nition. mass pickets largely exempted from the oreac or me beace The six-month carried The mere presence of lost by th tre He body class investigation was peenle on a law defining Miss Littlewood (23), of large group on: out by Det Supt Stanley Shaw and Det Chief Bucs casicuce Chilllal olences ana nu dauahter fact, this which is now being in- Insp Jack Ridgway, both of Manchester and Dickel mine can be weca mass Dicket councillor, was sabbatical can shouting 'scab', deli- almost entirely by courtesy voked the Shrews- against president of the students' Salford police. berate jostling or manhand- of the police.' building bury wOrKeIs. Nonington Colleae d," warstock, Or rivsica colcrion. Pickets shown Home Office directive Canterbury. But the authori- evidence incaam unal Deer laonicated ties recognize refused Midland Regional Crime Squad officers against her ner. claimed It was court

POLICE

harassment bennett was immeolate. intencent nao us Gown had organized David she six- coreatening me success or a sackea convenor Mr sit-in, five-week-old strike a new Home Office directive entering shops and a warehouse. He had spent l: week DOCol Rotherham, Yorks, lectures, controlled the ad- factory custoov on remang

LULL

Ull walck denes ministrative building and ot the sack. us the right even to flag a calca vecduse uunne• cowo au reduests tor allowed an NUS rally at the ing of the works convenor. meeting vehicle down. mass mes noe nhe organizers college, without permission. with the "The is based on one law men at Knowles Prosecutions, three officers attached to the regional Mr Tonks said yesterday: After the hearing. she said thing- the 'We have had excellent sup- DIueeul

DIOD-

ing Ltd refused to surrendei on she was disappointed: (vas erty owner. book to manage- port from local trade unions oficers. a bonus _DeT untet Joso "I thought the judge could and Knowles goods are being Thou here aus no need Postans, was a member of the Birmingham force.

after they alleged tougher against have been little more nehbers of fe s. st thereia dind warwics.

incorrect the Uoclallull Dlacke( many bullaing sympathetic.' pickets. f they enforced the sites. scheme was resnonsiale tor were memoers or ure low payments. 'Our mese libe et carli ee main aw as IL slanas. we mave workers with picketing. no picketing now'. for those forces whether their only police continue oremses recently obtained the bonus told The strike campaign as were disclosed nave umev

WON L

comattee sas ne l union pre- Hallite employer allow more than three aste le laca l trode s poo- sident trom Kent, ten miles room the Donaldson said that consideration was still Dookl Trom Their after persistent requests over each to black Knowles being given to what action if any, would now be pickets on gate. university an 18-month period local taken. I he SuDCI- GuCls. Tou NonuLo.

ALL TRADES UNIONS ALLIANCE MEETINGS

FOUR Royal Marines who ad- mille d assounen work zd Antrim power station where they were on guard duty 'Forward to the Revolutionary

ACTON:

Tuesday March Parlour Room, Central ORPINGTON and SIDCUP Churchtield 20, Hal, Mn. have fined Party. last yeaı been 'The p.m. opp. Town Mare nockeL, Council of Action total of £150 in Belfast.

Road. W.3. Street. Sunday March 18, William

BASLDON

Judge Johnson told p.m. Barnstaple Community 22, 5.30 TOTTENHAM: Wednesday March 3 p.m. Deptford Engineers C/UD Marct the Antrim County men 21, Bricklayers Gentre

DEMONSTRATION

.UHl Cour cal New Cross Tottenham Hiah Road. nr. Road. had been totally unjustified.

COVENTRY: Monday wn te Hart Lane. (21) 7.30 Biggin Hall Hotel Thunsdy eMare March 22, Marine Gerald Rodgers p.m.

SLOUGH

• Halt rising prices and rents.

Marine Binley 'Victory

WOOLWICH:

Wednesday March Sam. RoGd. Community Farn- Edward Road. hos- was hned tsu: 8 р.m. Powis Street, Marr (19) £10; Cpl John Castle, Slough • Force the Tories to resign.

•la workers. rorce me lores re Tilley (31) £16. L/Cpl Bernard resign.' •C O

STEVENAGE:

hon, stevenage March • Elect

READING:

Wednesday March 21, Labour rnanl was nnea zyu and March 19, 7.30 22, 8 p.m. 'Red Lion', covernment Monday

HUCS Y'

given four months' suspended Transport and General Old Town. pledged to socialist policies Engine' Bridgett o.iu Tre •.Uu. sentence. Workers Kings and to democratic union OTICe restore •Victory the hospital treet 8 D.m. Labour ard Trades Hall, March 22 Crown prosecutor Mr Fergus Road. 'The battle against the rights. workers. Force the Tories to Labour and Tory pay McCartan, Mr Patrick Keily, the workman, laws. High Road, NW10 • Victory to Icol. gasmen, civil serv- WEMBLEY: Wednesday March 21, was hit on the DAGENHAM: Tuesday March 20, Coseland School, High Monday March head bv a rife bv Rodgers p.m. VANUA He anis, nospilal workers, TeNCn- 8 p.m. Barking Co-op Hall, Fan- Kings Arms, Hịgh ers, railwaymen and car he was going work on Wembley. shaw Avenue. Road, 'The Fight against January 20. Later Mr Kelly was workers.

SOTTHALL:

Wednesday March.

BRIXTON:

20, The Library, Osterley Stalinism taken to a guard Tuesday p.m. MarCu

SATURDAY. MARCH 24

tn as kobena, beate ür bt Room. BRADFOR Thoorday! Control Brixton March 22, Park Road four soldiers. p.m. Iraining ventre. HOLLOWAY: Thursday March 22

HOOM I

Lenra sustained a dislocated Library, Bradford Co-op Hall, Seven Assemble: 10.30 a.m. Corner of 8 p.m. CASI LONDON: luesday Marcn bow.l bruising, a black MUO e 20, Parkef esty Festival Inn, Crisp MIDDLETON: Thursday March 22, North Cray. Road and Orpington and an injured nose and HACKNEY: Thursday March 22, 7.30 p.m. 'Assheton Arms' High Street. Street had to stay in hospital for five Lid ys.

Whittington returns after fortnight SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, APRIL 14 & 15, WINTER GARDENS, BLACKPOOL PAGE 12 Workers Press, Saturday March 17, 1973 ON SUNDAY, March 11, the Empire Pool at Wembley was packed with 10,000 trade union- ists and youth in the biggest indoor rally against the Tory government since Heath was elected in June 1970. Before the rally and concert, a three-hour Pageant of working class history was presented. It was the first time ever that working-class history acted and interpreted by workers themselves had been staged in Pageant form in Britain.

The event, therefore, was unique and its sheer size and enthusiasm was a tremendous tribute to the work- ing class, without whose support it could never have been staged. But not a line about the rally and Pageant appeared in any national daily newspaper. It was com- pletely ignored. Was this because the capi- Comment by talist Press didn't know

ALEX

about it? No. Workers Press and 'Keep Left' had carried advertisements and

MITCHELL

a considerable amount of coverage of the rehearsals midnight coaches home. and those taking part for weeks beforehand. must confess to telling them the truth. It was not only A Press conference was possible, but easy-and by arranged in the week pre- then in its way tempting.'

the rally. ceding Invitations This is middle-class hos- were sent to all news edi- tility and fear expressed at tors of national newspapers.

clearest. its Not one showed up. The one thing that de- This is the same blind eye ranges them the most are treatment which our Right- successes and strides taken to-Work marches received by the working-class move- year earlier. ment. The Press barons, the If they can sabotage it, Tory mouthpieces of the they will. If they can deride government, know that there it, they will. is only Marxist one serious Indeed, this article will be movement Britain today the subject of mindless. that is fighting to unite the frenzied discussion in the working class in a political Fleet Street wine bars and struggle to remove the the salons of the trendies Tories from office. and the revisionists. At all costs such a move- ment must be belittled and The New Statesman', derided. is drop- whose circulation But we thousand, have uncovered by ping the one mention of the Empire couldn't organize a seminar triumph. It's this of 100 let Pool in people, alone week's 'New Statesman'. stage a Pageant and pack an It appears in their diary.

auditorium with 10,000 peo- A snivelling paragraph writ- ple from the labour and ten by Corinna Adam, the trade union movement. daughter of an ex-BBC man- The real gain of the darin and wife of Neal Pageant for us is expressed Ascherson of the 'Observer'.

in a letter we received from • a worker new to politics the Under Anthony Howard's day after the Pageant: stewardship 'NS' has drifted 'Dear Sir, and rightwards is now went to Wembley on for the openly campaigning Sunday and was amazed at in Jenkins faction the the greatness of it all and Labour Party. It has com- raised the emotion it pletely cut off any pretence the people there. at representing the radical' amongst The Tories forced me to section of the party. and smok- give up drinking Adam don't Howard and ing because of the cost of believe that there is a class living. In doing so I looked struggle ('that's old hat').

life and now I've at my Nor do they believe that decided they are my enemy.

there is a monumental eco- I've never taken an in- nomic crisis sweeping capi- terest in politics before but talism in Britain and inter- this government has made a nationally. (We're in for "sit-at-home-zombie" out of period of growth, says Peter me with their wage freeze, Paterson, deputy editor.) high and in general rents These political buffoons their attitude of not giving a stumble into Empire Pool damn for any part of the during and conclude that working class. Thank you the speeches 'not all enthu- for waking me up. Forward siasts stayed. with the SLL. "Several young people ap- Eric Coleman. proached me at this point, London, NW8. asking whether it would be • (Full address supplied.)

possible to get the tube to Piccadilly and still •PS: My wife and children arrive also enjoyed the Pageant.'

back in time to catch their

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, APRIL 1

THE TUC is trying to stem the rising tide of anger at its abandonment of the hospital workers by urging trades councils to organize protest meetings and de- monstrations in their support.

Letters to the 500 trades councils affiliated to the TUC went out yesterday morning. Besides the meetings and marches, they suggested that collections for the strikers should be held. Agreement on the sending of the letters was reached at a meeting Thursday between on night TUC secretary Victor Feather and leaders of three of the main hospital unions.

Discussion other ways of in which the TUC can assist to the Welsh border staged the hospital workers' strug- two-hour lunchtime gle Tory strike of the as a sesture agallist laws will be discussed at a defiance Keith Minister special finance and general Joseph, of Health purposes committee meeting and Social Security. week Joseph next week. Earlier this The TUC is supposed to urged the hospital workers committed be to leading to return to work, accept 'co-ordinated action' in sup- £1.80-£2 derisory offer pay port of unions who ask for and take their case for a £4 but weeks the state assistance, two increase Pay TO have already gone by since Board. this decision was made. The hospital strikes spread Next Thursday Cornwall will take yesterday to and the hospital workers to with- Devon for the first time, in a week of the Tories' when laundry workers stop- control becoming law. pay esterday ped work for up to a week.

hospital 50,000 This brought the total from of hospitals totally workers an area number stretching from Lincolnshire or partially affected to 274.

UP FIGHT THIS WEEKEND

weekend is a great and, in this, they have the

THIS

opportunity for special trade union leaders as their campaign to boost this allies. month's fund. Our target Is Our paper must be used £1,750 and we have 15 more build to alternative an days to complete it. Let's leadership throughout the go into action today. trade union and labour As miners prepare to movement. Only Workers join the thousands of hos- Press is prepared politi- pital workers, gasmen, rail- cally for the situation ahead.

and Help us waymen civil servants therefore with in a struggle against Phase very special effort this week- 2, it is clear that an enor- end for our March Fund. mous movement is growing Make sure the situation is against the Tory government.

changed. Raise all you can But it is just at this point -give as much as you can.

that Workers Press is Post all donations Imme- needed to of the warn dlately to: dangers ahead in this fight.

Workers Press The Tories will do every. March Fund thing they can to try and 186a Clapham High Street London, SW4 7UG drive back the working class

FOR DETA

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01-622 702

PRIL 14 & 15, WINTER GARDENS, BLACKPOOL

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Workers at London's Whittington hospital on all-out strike for the past fortnight voted overwhelmingly yesterday to return to work. Shop stewards told the meeting that they had been let down by union leaders, but that they would continue to fight in the hospital with work-to-rule. But hospital workers at South- ampton decided to continue their action until their claim was met. AFTER a record week for price increases Britain's leading frozen food manufacturers want the Tories to release their products from all controls. The two big frozen food giants, Bird's Eye, owned by Unilever, and Findus, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco, want an end to all curbs on frozen vegetables. The two companies buy the bulk of the British fresh vegetables crop-and have the power to control prices. Bird's Eye chairman Kenneth Webb wants to increase the price of frozen peas immediately by 10 per cent. He and Michael Coburn, managing director of Findus, would like to see frozen vege- tables free to rise in price like frozen fish.

This new threat to the cost of living follows 230 price rises over the last week.

Brands that raised their prices include Twin- ning and Melrose coffee, Pedigree petfoods, Tam- Kavil margarine, Robirch pies and sausages, pax, Kraft American Lard, Somerwest sausages, pies and cooked meats, Rob Roy canned fish and Acdo washing powder. The Tory Press has kept the headlines to the 310 price reductions-but few reports reveal what kinds of foods are falling in price (ice cream, crisps and soft drinks—hardly the sustenance to keep a working class family well fed and healthy.)

The reductions are a result of the Chancellor's sop to the housewife when he exempted these foods from VAT. This had the effect of removing them from purchase tax which will be abolished after VAT comes in on April 1.

'The Grocer' magazine reports a steady increasé in general price levels-processed food is up 0.11 per cent this week and fresh food is up 0.15.

The magazine says the current rate of increase will mean food prices would almost double in three years. Foods subject to the biggest increase are bacon and ham, up 3.4 per cent this week, fish up 7.65 per cent and eggs up 2.26 per cent.

• Food costs in the Irish Republic rose by over 16 per cent during the past 12 months, a govern- ment consumer price survey disclosed in Dublin yesterday. The overall cost of living rose by 10p in the pound, with clothing increasing by 12 per cent and durable household goods by 10 per cent.

The rises are among the highest recorded in the republic. SOVIET security police,

KGB,

intend to hold oppositionist Pyotr Yakir in jail beyond the months permitted by law, nine

DETAILS

which runs out on Wednesday. One of the outspoken most

EPHONE

critics of Stalinism, Yakir has 622 7029 spent 14 years in labour camps. was shot Rost erade publishes Seed aper Workers the Office. Press, 186a Clapham High Lougon. SW4 7UG. Printed Press (TU), 180b ham High Street, 01-720 2000. Newsdesk: 01-622 7029.