Workers Press no. 1056

workers press

INFLATION

SHATTERS

US 'BOOM

INCORPORATING THE

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CEI

A special report by the United Nations shows an unprecedented rise in prices across the world. But the facing situation is worst in the US, now a runaway inflation that has already dashed President Nixon's hopes of controlling the economy.

Prices in America — still the centre of the world capitalist system- -are rising faster than in the frantic inflation of the Korean war period, The latest figures show prices are climbing at an annual rate of 9.6 per cent, with food leading at an incred- ible 30 per cent a year. growth and the abolition of Nixon, who rules the world-wide speculation in the interests of country in land and currency, com- American big business, has modities. abandoned his bid keep capitalist in every Every inflation 2.5 down to per capitalist country wants the cent. worker to pay for the crisis Like the Tories in Britain, of the system. the American leaders But, above all, the news ATe making the workers pay for from the economic front is the inflationary with crisis a warning. But laws controlling wages. It shows that the so-called big in America clash is 'boom' has meant uncontrol- looming. lable price rises. This will Union bosses have been result inevitably in re- forced to drop their support when cession governments for Nixon after a wave of the are forced to put on price demonstrations. George brakes. Meany, head of the AFL-CIO This, in turn, will lead to

TUC)

(American has said: of business con- 1 collapse 'Go out and get all you can.'

idence which comes This crisis. The present crisis proves when Nixon is reeling over there is no way to stabilize the reformists capitalism as the Watergate affair, opens in the trade unions and the a real opportunity for wor- Labour Party would suggest.

kers to deal a fatal blow to the corrupt gang in the Workers will not get boom White House and to build but war. Behind the façade a true Labour Party to rep- of inflationary growth they resent their interests. facing the are most severe attacks of the century on world inflation But the their rights. and the position of American labour also have great sig- In all their struggles, on nificance for British workers.

jobs, the right to pay or The international character organize in unions they clash of inflation and price directly with rises government as a Tory lie the exposes policy. 'cause' claim that wages question The of power inflation. therefore is posed every day.

Inflation is sickness Either they remove the Tory government by mass political rooted deep in the capitalist It can only be and industrial action, or economy. their rights will be destroyed.

'cured' by planned economic INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • WEDNESDAY APRIL 25, 1973• No 1056 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE Sunblest

BREAD

£100,000

PARTY

BUILDING

FUND

| WEDNESDAY APRIL 25, 1973 • No 1056 • 4p

ITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

BRITAIN'S new-style police force was in action yesterday when people appeared in a Lon- don court in what pro- mises to be a bigger political show trial than the so-called 'Angry Bri- gade' hearings. The ten, three girls and seven were remanded in custody men, charges which followed the on London bomb explosions on March 8. Over 50 police threw a security net around the court and sealed off a Lambeth street where the magistrates court stood. All cars stopped and searched. were (More pictures page 12.) Downing Street had been sealed off for security reasons after the London bombings last month, Scotland Yard said yester-

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

on a in 'The Times' suggesting letter that the road had been 'arbitrarily Prime Minister's closed by the personal fiat. WE ARE in serious difficulties. It looks as

MINERS' ATUA

if we are bogged down in the vicinity of

MEETINGS

Today's produced 29.000. post from

SOUTH

ELMSALL:

Thurs. Socialist Labour League branches_Birk. day April 26, The 8 p.m. Railway Hotel. enhead 0.50: Willesden C16: Brixton S11.

Slaughter Sneaker: which brings the total to £9.248.87.

We (SLL Central Committee). are convinced you want to complete the DONCASTER Mondav April target bang on time. The first 250,000 by 30. White Bear May 31. Now let's give it a big push. Post Hotel, Speaker: Mike Banda (SLL all donations to: Central Committee). Party Building Fund, 186a Clapham Hiah

KNOTTINGLEY:

Thursday May 3, 7.30 p.m. Railway Street. London SW4 7UG. Hilltop. Hotel, Speaker: G. Healy (National Secretary SLL).

workers press

INFLATION

SHATTERS

US 'BOOM'

THE RAPID inflation that grips the world economy is devastating plans in the United States for stability and economic growth. A special report by the United Nations shows an unprecedented rise in prices across the world. But the situation is worst in the US, now facing a runaway that has already dashed President Nixon's inflation hopes of controlling the economy.

Prices in America - world - still the centre of the capıtalist system-are rising faster than in the frantic inflation of the Korean war period. The latest figures show prices are climbing at an annual rate of 9.6 per cent, with food leading at an incred- ible 30 per cent a year. growth and the abolition of Nixon, who rules the speculation worle-wide country the interests currency, land and com- American big business, has modities. keep abandoned his bid to Every capitalist every In 2.5 per Innaulon waste cent. worker to pay for the crisis Like the Tories in Britain, of the system. the eaters are But, above all, the news making the workers pay for from the economic front is the inflationary crisis with a warning. laws controlling But It shows that the so-called America a big clash "boom' has meant uncontrol. looming. lable This lists. Will Union bosses have been result inevitably forced to drop their support cession governments for Nixon after a wave of forced to put on the dic Priced man or tie AFLe demonstrations, brakes. will lead to (American nas collapse of business con- 'Go out and get all you can.'

fidence. which comes This crisis, The present crisis proves when Nixon is reeling over maere s no wav to stadze the Watergate affair, capitalism as the reformists opens the trade unions and the a real opportunity for wor- Labour Partv would suggest deal a fatal blow to the corrupt gang in the Workers will not get boom White House and to build but war. Behind the façade a true Labour Party to rep- of inflationary growth thes resent their interests. are facing the most severe of the century on But the world inflation their rights. and the position of American s1g- labour also Have In all their struggles, on nificance for British workers.

jobs, Dav • OP The international character organize in unions they clash of inflation rises directly with government and Tory lie ises claim wages cause The question of power inflation. therefore is posed every day.

Inflation sickness Either they remove the Tory rooted deep in the capitaliss government by mass political economv. Can onIy ana maustrial aculon. 'cured' by planned economic their rights will be destroyed.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • WEDNESDAY APRIL 25, 1973 • No 1056 • 4p

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE

Sunbiesi

BREAD

£100,000

PARTY

BUILDING

FUND

• WEDNESDAY APRIL 25, 1973 • No 1056 • 4p

ITTEE OF THE

SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

BRITAIN'S new-style police force was in action yesterday when people appeared in a Lon- don court in what pro- political show the so-called Angry Bri- gade' hearings. girls and seven men, were remanded in custody charges which followed the London bomb explosions on March 8. Over 50 police threw a security net around the court and sealed off a Lambeth street where the magistrates court stood. All cars stopped and searched. were (More pictures page 12.) Downing Street had been sealed off for security reasons after, the bombings last London month, Scotland Yard said yester- day. They were commenting

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

on a 'The Times' letter in suggesting that the road had been arbitrarily Prime Minister's closed by the personal fiat'. WE ARE in serious difficulties. It looks as

MINERS' ATUA

if we are

MEETINGS

bogged down in the vicinity Today's £9,000. produced from post

SOUTH

ELMSALL:

Thurs- Socialist Labour League branches- 8 p.m. The -Birk- April 26, day Railway Hotel. enhead 0.50; Willesden £16; Brixton £11; Speaker: Cliff Slaughter which brings the total to £9,248.87.

We (SLL Central Committee). are convinced you want to complete the DONCASTER Monday April target bang on time. The first £50,000 by 30, White Bear p.m. May 31. Now let's give it a big push. Post Hotel, Hallgate. Speaker: Mike Banda (SLL all donations to: Central Committee). Party Building Fund, 186a Clapham High

KNOTTINGLEY:

Thursday May 3, 7.30 p.m. Railway Street, London SW4 7UG. Hotel, Hilltop. Speaker: G. Healy (National Secretary SLL).

THE BIG ?

Stalinists pull teachers into line with PAGE 2 Workers Press, Wednesday April 25, 1973 PRESIDENT NIXON himself is Over Tricky directly for the first time and implicated in the personally affair Watergate bugging as criminal charges are prepared Dicky's head against his top cabinet members.

Senate sources have said that Nixon knew all about the bugging plot as long ago as last June, within days of the Republican discovery of Can brazen the one of them a top aide of he oul burglars in the Democratic against and mescentvixon- -Were sum. aHecamons moned to the Grand Jury retain cotatinue as Presideni tor the credibility ncauuuarleis. His Press office yesterday yesterday. They

WCIC

refused deny ucLalicu •cclec to conaaue camar- Next lour vcarsa •Washington charges in ing allegations the tne asaliisl Nixon has concentrated açcusing the President more power in his own hands of helping cover the has tried and falled

NIXON

Pre- luan oerlaos any OLICI tor walo rom he khir scanea ane protect sident nistory. has aides. Last when hard reduce the The •Post' said Nixon had his stati could lace elected Congress to a cypher, warned that rescalcaly occnl charder inalv oroke •verale

LOURI

SUDC

lengthy silence that nis cme em ner say secretariat of his personal Attorney-General John Mit- would White sack cronies. ally chell and White House House stati who proved to bury John 'Tricky "Dicky" image, He tried the be involved. coleser VCan deeply implicated in the The situation in the White usily Avenue public bugging affair. Madison re- House is so rense toar nor. jaco himselt as a reliatble and techniques pro- The scandal is shaking the mal operations have almost entire completely ground to a halt. gm seabn top to bottom. Scarcely impeccabiy nonest ngure. Ivo 1 W( wallile lactons. UnC member Nixon's closest one will believe this now.

groupea arouna ivltcnell ana circle of advisers is lett un- one ar ind chief of staff The Watergate scandal has touched Haldeman, have time of by Tene evienee H. broken un- which is flooding out of precedented infation in the emerced. Washington. *The He white House is United States with a move- Particularly implicated are side of the White House building up inside the the following men: against open unions to do battle Former Attorney-General the Nixon wage controls. campaign manager John adviser said. It is brutal It bring down the can Mitchell. Dallic. lic "cclal Nixon administration. 'every man for himself'. former coree

SCL®

It reveals the utter con- The charges and counter- retary and chief fund-raiser tempt in tne TO circes Maurice Stans. charges are now flying thick the ruling class for the and fast as each member of House chief of 'democratic process" the White the inner cabinet tries staff H. R. Haldeman. himself that presidential election is shown now extricate • Presidential counsel John to be a traua, won by wnole- presidentlai protecuon Nas sale manipulation and crime.

Dean. been withdrawn and they have been told they must The building of a Labour The Federal Grand Jury bour- testify. Party, based not investigating Watergate the affair is expected to bring in Sackings within „ tne geors-cemocae lusons oul levels of the administration on revolutionary politics, criminal charges against these big- now the most urgent task in the inevitable. But men ana orners In tne near are US working future. gest oi the question a s ane

IIONL

tuture of Nixon himseif. class. Two mystery witnesses- Tory policies say WHY Hs tne Communist rarty *Back May while its delegates sit Union Teach- silent at the ers conterence al scarborouga.

Why does the 'Morning Star' give Tues- dav's tront page to 'squalor in schools While the vita account or now te cg What we think winy sat hsd reege noot coi- relegated-without com- ment-to page 5? Why is it that while the Communist Party the 1 ory Calleus DDOsC slalc vay Saturday's 'Star', laws its delegates voted on Friday to go times went hand in hand with a vicious deal LavIc without comment quoted to the Pay lurner Wirch-nint or ane inanceranea Edward ae tataionts de adeentuy played on "left adventurism'. Why is it that while the Communist Party deneral secrelary Britton's assessment: *The oppositition clalns oppose une nausua neld- was not strong!' (to acceptance] tions Act not one of its delegates spoke and un economue aro ecucauionallears In Stalinists use their out against rule changes which brought certainties of the largely middle-aged words the ouner delegates rally the silent majority old device Act? WOrKN the union into line with the their own conscious refusal Yesterday it only remained the militants. class seen - dallls. and political lead. to stand up • give a would Communist Party come to Morris cleveriv eauated the new ideas Board militant young teachers education which have produced wide- Having Pav the aid of the vole• i spread teachers with Friday, they resorted on Saturdav uncertainty among of their •v codemse DICaK-UD the insidious but now familiar tactics organization? the left and 'anarchists of Besieged by a puzzling plethora of educa- some vestige Instead mobilizing all their retair seleralt the pay laws and

FOR

tional and political philosophies, Morris credibility

AGAINST

DroDosine resoruuon and fight for militant campaign told teachers close ranks to av bae łàns ener vre in which campaign pishcies by rempening she door for their which they toceraer lor Dd y Brent remaining silent. were alone _interested- - pay and con- Party - controllec policies communis Associaticn, unforgettable ditions. which proposea tne reso- This is their shameful and was a fight lution, knows very well that, after But the fight he proposed record at the most crucial ever of the London allowance, ers conference. This is the remorseless without a centre ana wilnoul a mean- tne Hascu 'peaceful road' stripped bare ingful political perspective. It amounted teachers WIl reuclanl LaKt to no more than a rhetorical exposure The! tor ail to see. nis is tne pomt waere insidiousness of full and deadly the Stalinist policy of 'left unity' of the wickedness of loryism-ot which the transformed in practice into unity with the British working policy for teachers and tor class nave a long Thet and well remembered experience. working for all to Ciass was exposea

LOIV

•olicies. thẹ Star's editorial yesterday. Instead of mobilizing the fight against this Leading 'Star' reporter Mick Costello un First it said there (that must be unity consciously explained his Party's reactionary lory government, the stalin- April 13. ist hend ie on uoi and their supporters concentrated Secondiv article on double-eagea word) unel. proalI all seriously education must be more militancy. "The pay be forced wrote• cannol thon woud be top ach The of all result the aim on the working class for any time what- ot woue sulicl as d 1 UI 1 White leaders decide to play 'ten-year soever unless Gisacter plan. onvioual seclion Paper.) Presumably they will soon strongest and most reso ure nal bal with une lorles Tory education interests, for each section up a petition to Hear, hear, Mr. Costello. But this is pre- solidarity be given real the effect of all that the Stalinists chief Mrs Margaret Thatcher.

cisely suusalt Scaborough They have While doing their utmost to trample down other sections and for the have done at all signs militancy on the one hand trade union and labour move- consciously and treacherously played the Savie ss tapitld Toue thai iese achd part concerted the confusion and conservatism of the May Day, defeat 2,000 teachers at Scaborough to swing have accepted poncies acto. Ull n into line behind the Tories refused to back May Day, it's because policies restricling wazes ana the union there is no fight in them.

union rights'. corporate state and report of the And unity militancy are not Stalinist president Max Morris' appeal for NUT's acceptance seren dadada Tory working class rank-and-file unity in these dangerous of the pay rortncoming, ls une

BY A FOREIGN

CORRESPONDENT

IN A desperate effort to the tottering Cam- save bodian military dictatorship, United States has the cobbled together a coalition regime which held its first cabinet meeting yesterday.

Lon Nol himself, whose corrupt and isolated govern- ment is kept going solely by American air power, remains in the cabinet. He is joined by three other stooges of American imperialism who are "broaden' supposed the • to regime. In Tam, leader of the so-called Democratic Party, billed in the 'main Press as the western opposition' Lon Nol, is one to 'white hopes' of the discarded of American pclicy in Cambodia and very close to the Central Intelligence Agency. The second recruit to Lon Nol's new cabinet, Cheng Heng, is 'the former governor of Phnom Penh Central Prison, which speaks for itself. A Co-autior witak Lone Nol of was co-author with the 1970 coup which brought Cambodia into the Indo-China war. The new cabinet is a very threadbare cover for Washington's dictatorship. Sihanouk- Deposed Prince now in Peking-said in a recent television interview that without the intervention of the US air force, Lon Nol could not have survived. 'We would have been able to take Phnom Penh since many months, he said. But he warned prepared to fight 'we are that for ten or 20 years. visited Sihanouk recentiy Cambodia, liberated of areas travelling 600 miles in the under armed escort country without coming into contact with any of Lon Nol's troops. which is to blame. So said the editorial. The lesson of the hospital workers' was not that militancy did struggle that there was not work, but not of it forthcoming.' enough policy of This lunatic but deliberate single-section action against a govern- ment bent not merely on restricting' but on destroying trade union rights total control over pay and imposing can only divide the working class and lead it to a disaster unparalleled in the history of the labour movement.

emphasis and This on more more militancy can only wear workers down where they are so dis- to the point illusioned with persistent failure, to achieve their aims that they, are reluctant to take any action at all. Even among the more conservative layers headmasters and head- of at Scarborough teachers assembled the reverse of the truth is exactly the picture the Stalinists paint.

They have to. Teachers want to fight. Wages and prices are a BURNING issue.

The pay clamour which broke out at Party Sun- the Labour meeting on day addressed by Roy Hattersley bears witness to that. The rejection of a key amendment scotching campaign any new on witness to that. wages bears of But faced with the stubborn intracta- bility of this government, which has ended at stroke' all the old a methods of improving pay and condi- tions, teachers do not know how to fight. The Stalinists intend that they should find The spotlight in the never out. NUT is now firmly on the question of leadership. Only a perspective aimed at creating the Tories the conditions in which Labour be kicked out and a can government returned, forced by mass out genuine socialist action to carry succeed. policies, will now The All Trades Unions Alliance and the Socialist Labour League are the only organizations in the labour movement which take up this fight.

pay law fight reviewed today LEADERS of the 2,500 Rubery Owen workers at Darlaston, Staffordshire, are to meet today to review the progress of the first official strike in the firm's history. The strike started four weeks ago in opposition to a bid to introduce a Measured Day Work-type system throughout the factory. Workers say this will lead to wage-cuts for many of the men.

, Their bitter fight has broken a long tradition of paternalism between and at Rubery's and has management workers brought the men into defiance of the Tory state pay laws.

In a special investigation workers told Workers Press of the issues behind the Rubery Owen dispute.

Doug Peech has worked at Rubery's for 30 years. Over the last 17 of them he has been Transport and General Workers' Union covenor at the factory. He told us:

T&GWU

stewards' shop chalr- 'We Bennett addresses have had real man Brian never last Friday's meeting of strikers.

strike at Rubery Owen's before. There was a day in 1954 and two days in 1966 and that's been it as far as I can remember.' During the 'boom' post-war there appeared years to develop within Rubery Owen's a paternal- istic attitude between the Owen family and the workforce. Old Sir Alfred Owen got the name of a benevolent of employer sort father of the Black Country.

Now this strike has changed all that. In a letter sent to all employees Thursday, April 19, Rubery on Owen said: It has been repeatedly stated £4m that we have lost over the last seven years.' This loss is the real reason for the explosion of the myth and the strikers' determination. As one Workers welder told Press: No glory 'Owen he is going says implement the high base rate structure la Measured Day Work- type payments system]. He won't negotiate because he needs wage- cuts and this we won't toierate.

One old ill thinken it se mee in the way, when it seemed as if workers would do anything for the Owen Empire. But the younger workers don't want glory -they want cash on the nail.'

The strike-now made official by both the transport union and the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers-is over the firm's attempt to end the piece- work Seven Acre system in its Hill and Kings plants. But al- though made official, it is really a strike against a union pay deal.

For it has its beginnings in the infamous package deal engineers' negotiated by AUEW leader Hugh Scanlon. It is this deal which has paved the way for the attack on the piecework system and its replacement by MDW-type agree- MenTO. Since 1968 the Communist Party has covered up for Scanlon by that 'good shop stew- saying ards can drive a coach load of Pickets at the Booth Street gate of Rube horses through that agreement; International Social- or, as the Inte can't fight it. 'Owen thought because he• first ists say: Workers will always half go for the split the with about so get the money offered. the workers already on the new best you can out of it? he would have an system, easy victory in forcing the remaining pieceworkers on the new system.

Wage-cuts "The trouble with the new sys- tem is that you have to rely Owen for your money. On piece- Five years later these argu- work you can decide what your ments are shown to be what they money will be! always were- -weapons assist claim the employers getting the MDW •nna tro nracant wroo under discussion, has been the schemes under way. at Rubery Owen's in 1973 it is not union negotiating committee have resisted members any ex- negotiations and wage increases of the high base rate tension it's imolementation of wage- system into the rest of the piece- cuts. work sections and this has now 121968 and 11971 the Between them and brought the union company did manage to persuade structure in Rubery Owen's under about half the pieceworkers to attack. change over to high base rate The system (MDW) by offering them management letter of April 19 savs: cash. extra "Almost the all present crisis makes that sort Committee Negotiating high are impossible. pieceworkers. Emolovees earning have honoured the 1968- And in the interim period any- who way, many Rubery Owen workers 1971 agreements also want repre- pitfalls of the Negotiating discovered the sentation sentation on have MDW-type agreements. A T&GWU shop steward al- This paragraph clearlv shows that the high basic rate that the company feels in ready on the told Workers Press: -order. to . enforce present le of Rubery Owen's. change in the payments system it first weaken trade union must organization within the plants by dividing one section from the others. At last Friday's mass meeting, Harry Littlehales,

T&GWU

Wolverhampton organizer, told the strikers: Official 'The T&GWU and the AUEW are 100 per cent behind you in this strike. We will not accept the principle that this firm can reduce wages by £10 or £12 a week' Convenor Doug Peech told us that he was 'very happy that the strike had been made official' and that this showed that both union national executives were behind their stand at Rubery Owen's.

Commenting on the firm's attack on the Negotiating Com- mittee, he said: 'No man has the right to vote for another man to take a wage reduction. No man has that right! That, in a nutshell, is the fight ent. at Rubery Owen-the fight to Workers Press, Wedn ks in first strik prevent wage-cuts. This is recog- nized very much by the strikers, as reflected in a statement by a subframe worker to Workers Press: 'Owen wants to cut our wages, but what about prices in the shops. They are going up every week. At one time we got cheap food from Australia and New Zealand, but now with entry into the Common Market, prices are going up. We soon won't be able to afford to live on our present never mind taking a cut wages, as well.' In the sense that it's a fight against wage-cuts, Rubery Owen workers stand in the front line of the Tory government's attacks on the living standards ofevery single worker in this country.

In this sense the fight at Rubery Owen's can only really be won by the removal of the Tory government and the return of a Labour government pledged to socialist policies. This task requires the building of a new leadership in the work- ing class—a leadership that will face the problems involved with this perspective. ess, Wednesday April 25, 1973

PAGE 3

Rubery Owen workers meet again on Friday to consider the progress so far. The company is the major sup- chassis frames, plier of axles, wheels and petrol tanks. Rovers at Solihull and Reliant at Tamworth are already building cars without wheels. No wheels A lack of wheels has also been the reason for Massey Ferguson's closing down tractor production in Coventry and laying off 600 workers. Also in Coventry, about 100 laid at the men are Daimler bus works. Mini production Austin at Morris Longbridge, Birmingham, is halted with 1,500 workers laid off. At Rover, Solihull, 300 are laid off, with another 1,500 on short time. In Coventry, workers at Jaguar, Chrysler, Standard Triumph and Carbodies are under lay-off threats when they return today from the Easter holiday.

Contest A company spokesman told Workers Press that they contest the union's version of the dis- pute. They say they are guaran- teeing no loss of earnings, that some piecework will remain, that there before were negotiations the walked out, and that men their one attempt to go over the unions' heads with a lump sum payment to lower-paid workers was abandoned as soon as the men went on strike. ELLESMERE Port 6/760 branch of the Transport and General Workers' Union has passed a resolution calling for a General Strike to bring down the Tory government. The resolution states: "This branch calls for General Strike to create the in- dustrial and political climate to force the present government out of office and to return Labour government pledged to socialist policies.' CONFEDERATION of British Industry has approved Council the nomination of Mr Ralph M.

Bateman, chairman of Turner & Newall Limited, for election to deputy President of the CBI at the AGM on May 16.

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Wednesday April 25, 1973

STAUNISTS

BECOME

POLICEMEN

FOR THE

RIGHT-WING'

LETTER FROM A TEACHER

Dear Editor, indication that the Communist Party leads the fitting task strait OI jacket of the Tory pay laws was shown in Brent National Union of Teachers' last week when leading Stalinist teacher John Poole moved acceptance of the Phase Two offer to teachers. Poole, assistant editor of the Party journal Communist •Education, Today and To- described the £127 morrow', as a 'tactical victory for the lower paid! Teachers calling for strike action May in Stalinist-led branch were asked officers When by its 'Wasn't this illegal?' strike it was pointed out that strike action had been decided on by four London Associations, the re- tort was: 'Well, if these people get into trouble it's all to the good - they're dis- the ones the union.' This rupting те- mark was greeted with uproar from the membership and was not in anyway repudiated by Poole. In other words, the course set by the witch-hunt initia- ted by

NUT

president-elect and CP member Max Morris after the Central Hall, West- minster, meeting, which rejec- ted the union's protest policy, the foundation of Stalinist policy in the union. As teachers begin to break through their leaders' treach-

LESSONS

OF UCS

REFORM ON ME CULE

REFORMISM ON THE CLYDE

STREFORMISM ON THEGLYDE

eThe Story ofUCS 'Reformism on the Clyde' the first exposure of Com- munist Party tactics at the UCS work-in. It shows how a powerful challenge to the Tories degenerated into a It exam- reformist protest. ines the records of the men who led the struggle, James Reid, James Airlie and Sammy Barr. Price 30p, 128 pages, illustrated.

Available from: New Park Publications High Street Tobardonal London, SW4 7UG or the Paperbacks Centre 28 Charlotte Street Lonoon.y (Enclose 10p for postage) nesday April 25, 1973 collaboration • with the erous interest' so-called 'national and demand unity with the Stalinism de- clares point out the dangers of Tory laws, but to accuse those who challenge them as 'disrupters'.

While Stalinist practice moves to the right, Stalinist double-talk remains the same.

In edition of the Easter *Education, Today and To- morrow', Poole writes: No one union is going to defeat this Max Morris, president-elect of the NUT and CP member. government. It is obviously a task for joint action with other unions.' Talk about hunt against those who active- ly campaign for such action.

Stalinism has given the go- ahead to a calculated bid by right-wing NUT leaders the and bureaucracy in Hamilton House to clamp down. on union democracy. Delegates at the Special Salaries and Annual Conference at Scar- borough at the weekend faced an executive motion to pre- local NUT Associations vent and individuals from striking without executive agreement.

In practice both the 1969 interim pay strikes and the recent London allowance cam- were initiated by local paign associations. This motion is an attack not only on militant teachers, but on the demo- cratic rights of the whole membership and their need to defend their living standards.

What the Stalinists and the right wing dread is the grow- ing political understanding of teachers as well as the mili- tancy expressed in recent years in the affiliation to the TUC and the vote against registra- under the Industrial tion Relations Act. In the Brent NUT Poole did not even pay lip-service to the living standards attack on which the offer represents, for fear of stimulating revolt.

It was a question now, he of going on to 'the next said, stage' of the salaries fight. This meant support for the resolu- tion of the Brent Stalinist- influenced NUT branch calling 'rationalization' for salary points. In the past the right wing has carefully used the 'left cover provided by the Stalinists. They could be relied on for barbed jabs at Thatcher and vital still - for calls — more for 'unity' when members opposed betrayals. Now they take up an even more reactionary role - they act as policemen for the right wing inside the union. A North London Teacher. (Name and address supplied) Youth in the New Lodge, Belfast, face continual harassment by troops. It is impossible to walk anywhere without being stopped by the army, searched and often arrested for hours. The army deliberately 'sets up' confrontations between Catholic and Protestant youth.

One incident is typical. On a Friday evening recently a foot patrol moved down Mea- dow Street with guns point- ing at everybody. The street is near the Protestant Duncairn Gardens and residents report that they had many friends there and there was much inter-visiting until a few years ago. On this Friday evening the troops stopped and searched three youths who were simply walking along. They then off marched one • down the like a criminal and street took him away to the nearby Protestant area to a waiting Saracen. This arrest drew the Catho- lic people out and the commo- tion drew the Protestant youth out. Stone-throwing started.

The army withdrew as soon as it could and left the crowds facing each other. One of the youth afterwards told what had happened to him: 'Since I have been released from Borstal, I have been con- tinually stopped, asked for identification and asked the same old questions. Once I was stopped twice within five minutes. It finally culminated in my arrest and being taken over to Tiger's Bay. 'I was placed in the back of a Saracen and told that I was being arrested under the Special Powers Act. I was military then taken to the barracks. I was taken to a briefing room where I was made to face the wall for 30 minutes.

During this time two other soldiers who were standing guard over me were making threatening remarks in the background. They said they were going to fill me in, and teach me a lesson. One soldier maintained he could beat every I single man in the New Lodge.

'During this time they photographed me. I was then for interrogation and taken questioned about various Re- publican activities in the area.

"The Special Branch man threatened that I would be worked if I did not over answer his questions. was then taken back to the briefing room where one or two soldiers punched and kicked me. They brought me back and asked the same questions once again. I again replied that I knew nothing.

"The Special Branch man kept considering a sheet on the table before him. He then took me out to reception Anger is rising at the un- ceasing brutality of the Para- troop Regiment. In Beleek, one youth — Martin Walsh - miraculously lived after being shot in the back of the head. Walsh has told in detail what happened. He had been watched from army helicopter while an walking from a field some dis- tance away from where a land- mine had exploded under a British army vehicle. He was then picked up by a foot patrol, dragged along the ground and beaten. He was taken to a muddy lake only yards away from his home. After more beatings he told to climb over a was fence. As he did so, he was shot in the back of the head.

Walsh's mother claims that even after the shooting of her Paras still harassed son the the family. Martin's younger brother was beaten by Paras when they interrogated him at Newtownhamilton. A helicopter also swooped • down outside the family's home to check the house only days after the boy had been shot. But no charges were made against him. In Beleek, nearly every youth has been picked up by the Paras at one time or an- pa other. One boy said that when he was arrested 'the soldier told me that I was not walking fast enough and to march on the double; when I did he told me that I was walking too fast and he kicked me on the legs He and several other youths were pushed into a Saracen and forced to lie down. 'A if l soldier told me that blinked or breathed, they would shoot me, he said.

URBAN

CLEARWAY

Monday to Friday am pm 89:30 4 30,6,30 In Armagh town black flags hung from windows following the shootings last week which two youths were killed and another seriously in- jured. Eye-witnesses say that James McGerrigan, who Peter was killed, and his companion John 1 Nixon - neither of whom was armed - were shot down by Paras who jumped Saracen and into a drove leaving them bleeding away, in the street. In the Ardoyne, people are making the following allega- tions against the Third Batta- lion of the Parachute Regi- ment: March 12: A 30-year-old man, Edward Sharpe of Cranbrook Gardens, was shot dead while unarmed and not was part in any illegal taking activities. March 17: Patrick McCabe, aged 17, of Dunedin Park, was also shot dead. He was un- armed. March 20: Paratroopers burst into a disco attended by about 150 children and terrorized the youngsters while beating others. 21: An 11-year-old March boy was stopped by Paratroop- érs as he returned home from school. The soldiers threat- ened to shoot the child. March 22: A man returning home from work was stopped by soldiers and badly beaten.

April 5: Four teenagers were stopped by Paras and threat- ened with beatings. Twenty.

five men taken from a local club and forced to lie down on the floors of a Saracen while they were interrogated.

A 16-year-old boy — Terry Rice - from the Derrybeg area in Newry, has been smug- gled across the border dis- guised as a woman after he had been threatened publicly several times by Paras on foot patrol. Two youths from the same area who had been arrested by soldiers, dragged by the hair irto a Saracen and beaten, say the Paras showed them a coloured picture of Rice and said they were determined to 'get' him. Rice is now living with rela- tives in Co Wexford. Two other youths, brothers from Killeen, have also taken refuge across the border after Para threats.

MOSCOW'S DEAL WITH OCCIDENTAL

Left: Building a pipeline for natural gas in Siberia. Right: Nixon whose talks with Brezhnev opened ground for trade deals.

trade The agreement Moscow by signed in the Occidental Petroleum Company is only the biggest so far of many similar deals which the Soviet bureaucracy hopes to enter into with big capitalist corporations this year. The rapid development of foreign trade is seen as a means to overcome the grow- ing crisis in the Soviet economy in the 'decisive third year' of the Ninth Five-Year Plan. In the first ten months after Nixon's visit to Moscow last May, over 2,500 representatives of American firms alone had made the pilgrimage in the hope of turning an honest dollar., Trade with the Soviet Union, once abhorred as strengthen- ing the 'red enemy', is now a sought after prize as the trade war steps up. Many American firms have already set • up special stafis to handle busi- ness with the Soviet Union.

Their counterparts from the other capitalist countries are doing likewise. Specialized Soviet journals are regularly carrying articles about trade with the United States. For example, the January number of 'Ekonomika, Politika, Ideologika' contained a lengthy review of Soviet- American trade relations and their impact by Ya S. Sher- obviously shnev which was intended for the information and instruction of Party cadres.

The writer said that the Nixon talks went far beyond framework of bilateral the relations and opened an stage in the important new of Soviet- development American economic relations. He noted that in October the Joint Consultative Committee set up after the Nixon visit had brought about the grant- ing of most favoured nation treatment to Soviet imports into the USA which resulted, in practice, in reducing tariffs on many Soviet goods by 50 to 75 per cent. The object of this important committee is to encourage the of effective establishment ties between the two business organizations and countries' firms, taking into account their resources and requirements in raw materials, equipment and techique. The Occidental deal means that the American firm will supply plant to equip factories Writings of OF

WRITINGS

Leon Tratsky

LEON TROTSKY

[23g-38 (1838-9)

WRITINGS OF

LEON

LEON

TROTSKY

(1833-34| Six volumes of Trotsky's writings during the years 1933-1940 £8.00 including postage Please tick those you requi Name. Address Complete form and post to: New Park Publications, 18 A New Park Publicat Left: Building a pipeline for natural gas manufacturing ammonia and urea, a nitrogenous compound used in fertilizers. It will also pipeline to carry construct a the fertilizer to ocean ports. Occidental will also supply badly needed superphosphates also used for fertilizers.

In other words, the deal is closely linked to the Soviet agricultural crisis which re- sulted last year in the purchase ot huge quantities of cereals from the US and other coun- tries. In return, Occidental will have access to Soviet raw materials as well as chemicals made in these plants, which it hopes to sell profitably in the world market. Apparently, most of the finance will come from Occidental itself. This is the sort of deal which is envisaged in the Sher- shnev article referred to above.

It is hoped to raise US-Soviet trade to at least $500-600m by 1974. But, as he says, 'without financial co-operation, the de- velopment of ties on any significant basis is very difficult. That means, as the deal with Occidental indicates, that the bureaucracy is hoping to obtain generous credit terms from its capitalist trading partners. But what it is mainly trading in will, of course, be valuable and irreplaceable natural resources, particularly of natural gas and petroleum. History of Russian Revolution -special gift pack of three volumes £1.70 including postage u require. Amount enclosed £.

post to: ions, 186a Clapham High Street, Lon Publications Booklist is a vailable, fre tural gas in Siberia. Right: Nixon whose talks v Unable to develop industry to the required technical pitch or to make available from the Soviet Union's tignt economy the investment funds necessary to open up the vast deposits of Siberia and other regions, the bureaucracy is now putting them up for sale to the highest capitalist bidder. Both the United States and Japan have serious energy problems looming up in the near future. The bureaucracy hopes that this will be the spur for the conclusion of deals which it regards as being favourable to its interests.

As the Shershnev article puts it, if the US corporations will supply the equipment, the technical and the services credit we will supply the gas.

'Such , a contract,' it says, 'would mean the implementa- tion of projects on an immense scale and would enable the Soviet Union to realize vast export earnings.' In other words, by opening up the natural resources of the workers' state to the imperialist the bureaucracy plunderers, find some of hopes to way overcoming its growing crisis by obtaining the foreign ex- change to import more con- and industrial sumer goods equipment. It is opening up the country to the colonizers, the advance guard of which is already on the spot in its hundreds. Trotsky—a documentary by Francis Wyndham and David King £1.65 including postage eet, London SW4 7UG able, free, on request. Workers Press, Wedne se talks with Brezhner opened ground for trad This turn in Soviet trade policy is quite different from the old plea for greater East- West trade. It now represents direct menace to the a nationalized basis of the economy and the plan itself It opens the way for a breach . the monopoly of foreign trade and for the exploitation not only of Soviet resources, but also of the Soviet working class by foreign capital.

It is a direct reflection of the choice which the bureau- cracy has made between work- ing-class revolution and cO- imperialism with existence which is carried into every Communist Party in the shape of policies which have shifted sharply to the right since the Nixon visit. A number of capitalist con- cerns are now operating on Soviet soil in conjunction with the projects of the Ninth Five- Year plan. The firm of Swindell-Dressler is helping to build the Kama motor vehicle plant. Joy Manufacturing is supplying scientific and tech- nical co-operation in the coal- mining industry. Occidental, even before the latest deal, was supplying metal-finishing equip- ment and technical know-how in return for raw nickel.

The roster of other Ameri- can firms alone already on the spot include General Electric, Westinghouse Electric and India is in the grip of its worst drought for ten years with up to 200 million people on the brink of starvation and death. Eight hundred thousand people died in the Bengal famine of 1837-1838. Thirty years later, a million are said to have perished in Orissa and perhaps even more in 1876- 1878 when the drought was widespread across many parts of the country. In 1943, the famine that struck Bengal when the war prevented imports is estimated to have killed anywhere from 2.5 million to 3.5 million people. Today the worst-affected of are the states a reas Maharashtra, now in its third drought, Gujarat year Rajasthan, Mysore, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

There is no under-estimat- ing the gravity of the problem.

Supplies available through the ss, Wednesday April 25, 1973 PAGE 5 d for trade deals. Hewlett-Packard. Other mono- poly corporations, their appe- tites whetted, are preparing to move in to grasp the hand ex- tended by the bureaucracy.

Of course, in its own in- terest the bureaucracy tries to sell what it has to offer on the best possible terms. It wants favoured nation most treat- ment to be extended and urges the USA in to particular abolish all barriers to Soviet imports. It seeks favourable credit terms so that it will not have to use scarce foreign exchange or sell its goods at whatever price they can fetch in order to pay for imports. It holds out for access to the latest technology and scientific information and right to make use of foreign patents and licences. It calls all the time for 'improved forms of co- operation' and 'diversified forms of economic relations' In short it wants desperately be treated equal to as an partner by the big corporations and imperialist governments.

It cloaks its capitulation in the usual terminology about peaceful co-existence not ex- tending to political and ideo- logical differences. These pro- strations have an increasingly hollow ring, being made only for form's sake, while there is a steadfast pursuit of the most open forms of collaboration with capitalism. fair government - run price shops are frequently well below the promised five or six kilos (12 to 15 pounds) of grain a month. The government has im- ported 1,650,000 tons of grain and drawn heavily on stocks to feed the hungry as well as putting some six million people on relief work. Relief workers earn only two to three rupees-10p to 15p sterling — and prices in the open market are sky high.

Ghandi's Mrs Indira gov- ernment is trying to take the entire wholesale wheat trade but nationalization is being resisted. The wheat crop, which is just beginning to be harvested, is expected to be a record and this will help tide over the next few months. The nagging is that worry the monsoon could fail again.

If the rains do not arrive on time in June then the spectre of large-scale famine which will force the government to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on imports be- comes real. Children under five are suffering from malnutrition and old people some are dying a little earlier through being weakened by lack of a proper diet.

rop: The Chernyakhovsk prison hospital. Above: Sovlet oppositionists Major-General Grigorenko, Vladimir Bukovsky, Natalia Gort PAGE 6 Workers Pross, Wednesday Al

BY JACK GALE

The practice of declaring dissenters to be insane and confining them for indefinite periods to special psychiatric 'hos- pitals' was started in the Soviet Union by Stalin in the 1930s. More recent examples of the practice by Stalin's suc- cessors have been recorded by the underground bi-monthly newsletter 'Chronicle of Cur- rent Events'. The practice hit the head- lines the when west Vladimir Bukovsky spoke of his experience in special 'hos- pitals in an interview filmed and taped in Moscow and broadcast in the United States on July 28, 1970. But fighters courageous against the abuse had made themselves known before this.

In January 1953, after the notorious Tass communiqué concerning a 'plot' by nine (mostly Jews) doctors to Party leaders, poison S. P. Pisarev, a Party official, sent a report to Joseph Stalin on the misdeeds of the security organs and called for an in- dependent verification of the charges against the 'poison- ers' Pisarev was arrested and, after diagnosis by the Serbsky Institute of Forensic Psychia- try (the main centre for 'diag- nosis of political offenders), was confined for nearly two in psychiatric hos- years pitals. When he was finally offered release, he insisted on a fur- ther two months' stay in hos- pital in order to have the diagnosis of schizophrenia and paranoid psychothapy dis- proved by the Gannushkin Scientific Research Institute for Psychiatry. On his release Pisarev again wrote to the CPSU Central Committee as a result of which a special commission was ap- pointed in 1955 under A. I.

Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov's report corrobor- ated the facts presented by Pisarev, particularly in rela- tion to the Serbsky Institute and one of its senior staff D. R. Lunts. The report called for the separation of prison and hospital functions. But no action was taken- except that Kuznetsov and all his colleagues on the Commis- sion were removed from the Central Committee. Lunts was promoted to Professor. One Major - General Grigorenko wrote in the 'Chronicle of Current Events' (December 1969): 'I myself on more than one occasion have seen Professor Lunts, the head of the depart- ment diagnosing me, arrive at work in the uniform of a KGB [Security Police] colonel.

I have also seen other doctors of this institute in KGB uni- form' Not only have the oldest 'special' psychiatric hospitals inesday Aprii 25, 1973 —at Leningrad and Kazan— been retained, but others have been opened in recent years.

In 1965 one was opened at Sychyovka, Smolensk Pro- vince, and another at Chernya- khovsk, Kaliningrad Province.

In 1966 one was opened at Minsk and in 1968 one at Dnepropetrovsk, in the Ukraine. In April 1970, the courag- eous Pisarev outlined all the facts in a letter to the Prae- sidium of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences pleading with them to investigate the matter-but with no apparent result. Issues of the 'Chronicle of Current Events' have described what happens in these 'hos- pitals' 'special' All these psy- chiatric hospitals have the following features in common —political prisoners, although of sound mind, are kept in the same wards as seriously-dis- turbed psychiatric patients (who may have committed such crimes as murder, rape, thuggery); if they will not re- nounce their convictions they are subjected, on the pretext of treatment, to physical tor- ture, to injections of large doses of 'aminazine' and 'sufazine' ', which cause depres- sive shock reaction and serious physical disorders ('Chronicle', ', June 1969.) Sulfazine causes the tem- perature to rise to 40°C with (104°F) weakness, rheumatism of the joints, headaches, pains in the but- tocks where the injections are given. This condition lasts for a day or two after one dose.

Aminazine is administered by in intramuscular injection, such a way that the injected aminazine is not absorbed but forms malignant tumours which have to be re- moved later by operation.

('Chronicle' ', October 1969) Another form of punish- ment is the roll-up, des- Bukovsky and cribed by Fainberg, in which the patient is rolled from head to foot in wet canvas so tightly that it is difficult for him to breathe. As the canvas begins to dry it gets tighter. However, even a attendant is present medical while this is taking place and if the patient's pulse weakens the canvas is eased. Or, as at Kazan, 'patients are strapped into their beds for three days, sometimes more; and with this form of punishment the rules of sanitation are ignored: the patients are not allowed to go to the lavatory and bed- not provided. pans are ('Chronicle' ', October 1969) The regime is the same as for closed prisons, with hour's exercise a day. one Sometimes before interroga- tion sodium aminate, a strong narcotic, is administered by injection. The staff consists of rop: The Chernyakhovsk prison hospital.

orderlies recruited from MVD forces [police], their uniforms concealed by white overalls, male chosen from nurses among the criminal prisoner- patients, also in white overalls, junior and the senior and medical personnel, many with officers' shoulder-straps be- neath their white overalls. The brick walls surrounding these prison hospitals are even more impressive than those of other of prison. The most kinds terrifying arbitrary regime pre- the Sychyovka and vails at hospitals, Chernyakhovsk where the sick patients as well as the politicals are the vic- beatings of daily and tims sadistic humiliations on the part of the supervisory per- sonnel and the nurses, whose rights absolutely un- are limited. Here, in the spring of 1969 the patient Popov was beaten to death, though it was officially reported he died of a 'brain haemorrhage'.

('Chronicle' June 1969.) 'special' In addition to the psychiatric hospitals, normal psychiatric hospitals may have one wing under the control of Moscow, for ex- the KGB. In ample, this is the case with No. I wing of the Kashchenko psycho-neurological hospital, No. 4 wing of the Gannushkin Psychiatric Hospital, No. 3 of the wing and several others. n hospital. Above: Sovlet oppositionists Major-G Under Russian civil law, a can be placed person a psychiatric hospital without or his relatives' or guard- his ians' consent on the verdict of a panel of three doctors. He can be kept in hospital indefin- itely for obligatory treatment.

This the procedure was used against the poet- mathematician Esenin-Volpin in 1968 and against the biolo- gist Zhores Medvedev in 1970.

Criminal law can also be used. A person can be arres- ted for some activity, such as taking part in a demonstration, issuing a leaflet or making a speech. If, for some reason, wishes to avoid a the KGB which might in- public trial, public volve self-defence and demonstrations, it can say he committed the act in 'a state of legal non-accountability.

In this case, he is sent for diagnosis — usually to the Serbsky Institute. In consul- with the arresting tation officers of the KGB, Professor Lunts and his colleagues can recommend indefinite compul- sory treatment. This is duly endorsed without question by a court which the defendant has no right to attend. What often happens then described by been has 's Major-General Grigorenko, Vladimir Bukovsky, Natalia Gorb Major-General Grigorenko: sk I was especially saddened in by the tragic of case en Alekseyevich engineer Pyotr pi Lysak. Because he had spoken tu at a student meeting against the expulsion for political number of of reasons ar students, he had landed in a C hospital psychiatric and, at the time of my arrival, had ha been there for seven W already years. Bitter anger at this wild cl injustice, at his ruined life, had permeated his being, and he would write complaints daily, fo which, naturally, never reach- in ed their destinations, but found their way into his hos- hi pital file and were used as an excuse for further "treatment'.

ag People who do not admit their illness are not usually discharged from psychiatric hospitals. I tried to drum this R truth into his head. During one such conversation, I said in ar 'Your reasoning is irritation: m so unreal that I'm beginning to doubt your normality? He th stopped all of a sudden, In looked at me with an expres- sion I shall remember to the ag day of my death, and asked in SO a barely audible voice and a ps tone of bitter reproach: "Do at you really think that a man m spend seven. in fr can years here and still remain normal?' al 'On the (P. G. Grigorenko: re Special Psychiatric Hospitals', pe a section of N. Gorbanev- ps

fop: The Chernyakhovsk prison hospital. Above: Soviet oppo Major-General Grigorenko, Vladimir Bukovsky, Natalia Gorbanevskaya, Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

onists A. Amalrik and Zhores Medvedev.

ia Gorbanevskaya, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. A.

skaya's book 'Midday' appear- ing in the 'Chronicle' of Dec- 'Midday' was ember 1969. published in Russian in Frank- furt, 1970.) The case of Major-General an active Pyotr Grigorenko, and devoted member of the Communist Party and cham- pion of the Crimean Tartars, has been dealt with before in first Workers Press. He clashed with authority in 1940 when he criticized the lack of preparedness of the armed forces at the time of Hitler's invasion. In 1961 he was sacked from his post at the Frunze Military Academy for speaking out against the excessive privileges of He fought Party leaders. against the trials of Daniel and Sinyavsky and opposed the Russian invasion of Czecho- slovakia in 1968—this, despite an earlier sentence of 15 months' imprisonment, most of which had been spent in the special psychiatric hospital in Leningrad. In 1969 he was arrested again and although found of sound mind by independent psychiatrists, was diagnosed at Serbsky (after one 20- as suffering minute session) from 'a pathological paranoiac development of the person- ality with the presence of reformist ideas that have ap- peared in his personality with psychopathic features of the enitsyn. A. Amalrik and Zhores Medvedev.

character' The findings of the non- KGB psychiatrists-four of whom had interviewed him for nine times as long as the psychiatrists at Serbsky—were overturned on the grounds that they had not discovered his condition 'owing to his out- wardly well-adjusted behav- iour, formally coherent utter- ances and retainment of know- ledge and manners-all of which are characteristic of a pathological development of the personality (!). This was signed by G. V. Morozov, V. M. Morozov, Z. G. Trubova P. R. Lunts, and M. M. Maltseva. Grigorenko sent to was Chernyakhovsk where he was kept in a cell of six square metres with one other person -a man in a constant state of delirium who had stabbed a woman to death. Another case concerns 34- year-old writer and translator Natalia Gorbanevskaya who was arrested in August 1968 for demonstrating in Red Square against the invasion of Czechoslovakia. On November 19, 1969, a psychiatric commission under the chief psychiatrist of Mos- cow, I. K. Yanushevsky, found her sane. Five months later she was sent for diagnosis at the Serbsky Institute. Like Grigorenko she was de- clared to be 'outwardly cor- orientated, rectly but was nevertheless said to be suffer- ing from schizophrenia. At her trial, from which she was excluded, Lunts declared that her form of schizophrenia 'has no clear symptoms' and that her mental state 'from the theoretical point of view, can- not be considered an improve- ment, though externally it re- sembles this'. Gorbanevskaya was confined to the mental wing of Butyrka prison, Moscow, from where she was transferred to Kazan prison hospital for drug treat- ment. case recorded in the A 'Chronicle of Current Events' of August 1970 is that of 20- year-old Olga lofe, accused of 'anti-Soviet activities'. At her Serbsky trial a doctor- "The Martynenko-declared: absence of symptoms of an ill.

ness cannot prove the absence of the illness itself.? A particularly striking case that of the bricklayer is Vladimir Gershuni. He had first been arrested in 1949 when-at the age of 19-he had been a member of an anti- Stalinist youth group. He was tortured and sent for ten years to the camp which Solzhenitsyn described in 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' In 1969 Gershuni was arres- ted for distributing leaflets in defence of Grigorenko. He was mental hospital sent to the wing of Butyrka, where he was put in a cell with mentally deranged criminals. He is now in a prison mental hospital in Oryol. The full total of sane people imprisoned in 'special" psy- chiatric hospitals for political opposition is not known. But it is claimed that the Leningrad and Kazan hospital prisons have about 1,000 in- mates each. A letter from a political prisoner in a Leningrad psy- chiatric hospital prison (in Arsenalnoya St) gives many of the humiliation examples and torment to which the prisoners are subjected by the hospital's prison staff (mostly orderlies recruited from among the criminal inmates), with the connivance, and sometimes the actual participation, of the medical staff. The prisoners are beaten, crippled, sometimes killed; their food is stolen or confiscated; as punishment for their 'misdeeds' they are sub- jected to cruel and dangerous methods of 'treatment': to 'the , the injection of shock- warp' inducing drugs which destroy the mind, etc. The culprits go unpunished; to relatives are con- letters in order to conceal fiscated these crimes. The appeal ends call to the author's with a fellow-citizens to demand im- mediately the investigation of these crimes. The confinement of the in- biologist ternationally known in 1970 Zhores Medvedev raised a storm both in the and abroad. Soviet Union Solzhenitsyn Alexander de- nounced it in these words: any arrest warrant or any justification four medical policemen and doctors two come to a healthy man's house.

The doctors declare that he is crazy, the police Major shouts: OF 'We

ORGAN

are an COERCION! Get up!' They twist his arms and drive him off to the madhouse. This can happen tomorrow to any one of us. It has just happened to Zhores Medyeder, a geneticist and publicist, a subtle, precise and man brilliant intellect and of warm (I know personally of heart his disinterested help to un- known, ill and dying people).

It is precisely for the DIVER- SITY of his fertile gifts that he is charged with abnormality: 'a split personality! It is pre- cisely his sensitivity to injus- tice, to stupidity, which is presented as a sick deviation: *poor adaptation to the social environment'! Once you think in other Workers Press, Wedn ways than that which is PRE- SCRIBED-that means you're : abnormal. As tor well adapted people, they must all think alike. And there is no means of redress: even the appeals of our best scientists and writers bounce back like peas off a wall. 'If only this were the first case! But this devious suppres- sion of people without search- guilt, when ing for. the • any real reason is too shameful to state, is becoming a fashion.

Some of the victims are widely known, many more are un- known. Servile psychiatrists, breakers of their [Hippocratic] oath, define as 'mental illness': concern about social problems.

It is time to think clearly: the incarceration of free-think- ing healthy people in mad- houses is SPIRITUAL MUR- DER, it is a variation on the GAS CHAMBER, but is even more cruel: the torture of the people being killed is more malicious and more prolonged.

Like the gas chambers these crimes will NEVER be for- gotten, and all those involved in them will be condemned for all time, during their life and after their death. In lawlessness, in the com- mitting of crimes, the point must be remembered at which a man becomes a cannibal! The Stalinists seek to pre- sent all political opposition as anti-Soviet, but this is by no true. opposition means document circulated at the 24th Party Congress in March 1971 was titled Against the rehabilitation and restoration of Stalinism'. Written under the pseu- donym of 'L anti-Brodsky' the pamphlet was a reply to Brod- ailegations that 'under- sky's ground' writings were anti- Soviet. The pamphlet argued that anything directed against Stalinism strengthened the Soviet system, but that any- towards a re- thing tending habilitation of Stalin-like the works of officially-approved Kochetov and Shevtsov-was inimical to the Soviet system.

The author also distin- the Stalinist terror guished from that of the Cheka (the original name for the KGB) in the early years of the revolu- considered which he The author defends only underground those writings (Samizdat) which speak from communist positions. It is this type of opposition that the Kremlin bureaucrats really fear. That is why they train troops to deal with re- volts in the labour camps..

military exercise entitled 'The Suppression of a Revolt in a Camp holding 1,300 men' Troop-carriers, simulated gas and dogs grenades trained were used in this exercise.

The bureaucracy needs these methods because of its fear of A. political prisoners like Amalrik who defied the court which tried him for political criticism. He refused to take part in the trial, submitting the fol- lowing note addressed to the chairman of the court: An answer to the question whether I plead guilty. The charges brought against me concern the dissemination by me, verbally and in print, of views which are here called false and slanderous. I do not consider either the interview given by me or my articles and books to be slanderous. I also think that the truth falseness of publicly- or expressed views can be ascer- tained by free and open dis- cussion, but not by a judicial No criminal investigation. court has the moral right to try anyone for the views he has expressed. To oppose ideas -irrespective of whether they or false-with a true are judicial criminal penalty seems to me to be a crime in itself....

ess, Wednesday April 25, 1973 PAGE 7 I consider that this court is not entitled to try me, and ted therefore I shall not enter into any discussion _of my views with the court, I shall not give any evidence and I shall not of the court's answer any questions. I do not plead guilty to circulating 'falsehood and slanderous fabrications', and I shall not attempt to prove my innocence here, since the very principle of freedom of speech excludes the possibility of my guilt. If during the trial I wish to add anything to what I have said, I shall avail myself of my right to make a final address. Amalrik's final address was as follows: The criminal prosecution of people for their state- ments or opinions reminds me of the middle ages with their 'witch trials' and indexes of forbidden books. But if the medieval struggle against heretical ideas could be par- tially explained by religious fanaticism, everything that is happening now is due only to cowardice of a regime the which perceives danger in the dissemination of any thought or any idea alien to the upper strata of the bureaucracy.

These people understand that the collapse of any regime is first preceded by its ideological capitulation. But, while hold- ing forth about an ideological they can in reality only with the oppose threat of criminal prosecution.

Conscious of their ideological helplessness, they clutch fear- fully at the criminal code, prisons, camps and psychiatric hospitals. It is precisely this fear of the thoughts I have expressed, and of the facts • I adduce in my books, which forces these people to put me in the dock like a criminal. This fear has reached such proportions that they were even afraid to try me in Moscow and brought me here [Sverdlovsk], calculating that here my trial would attract less attention. But it is just these manifes- of fear which prove tations best of all the strength and correctness of my opinions.

My books will be none the worse for the abusive epithets with which they have here been described. The opinions I have expressed will not become less correct if 1 am imprisoned for a few years because of them.

On the contrary, this can only impart greater strength to my convictions. The trick which says that people are tried not for their convictions but for circulating them seems to me to be empty sophistry, since convictions which do not mani- fest themselves in any way are net genuine convictions. As I have already said, I shail nct here enter into a discussien of my opinions, since a court is not the place for that. I wish only to answer the assertion that several of my statements are directed against my people and my country. It seems to me that my country's principal task at present is to throw off the burden of its hard past, for which, above ail, it needs criticism and not culogies. I think 1 am a better patrict than those who loudly hold forth about love for their • by that- country, meaning love for their own privileges.

Neither the 'witch-hunt' conducted by the regime nor trial-an individual ex- this ample of it—produces in me that slightest respect, nor even fear. I understand, of course, that trials like this are cal- culated to intimidate many. and many will be intimidated -but I still think that the process of ideological libera- tion which has now begun cial irreversible. I have no requests to make of the court Amalrik was sentenced to in hard-regime three years corrective labour camps and is now being held in Kamyshlor prison in the Sverdlovsh region.

BANKERS FEAR CONTROLS ON EURO-CURRENCY

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Wednesday A How long can the inflated Euro - currency market continue to pro- vide the finance required by governments, inter- national traders and multi-national firms? is causing This question alarm in the banking par- lours of the City of London in the wake of the monetary upheavals earlier this year.

These upheavals destroyed the last vestiges of the post- system of 'fixed but war adjustable parities' between currencies. And they demonstrated — not for the first time, be it said-that no country was safe from the movement of currency generated in the Euro-money market. The banks and / institutions which operate in the highly- lucrative, but very unstable Euro-money market are now fighting tooth and nail against the spectre of controls. They fear that rather than currency crisis face another the 'politicians' may get their hands on the delicate Euro- market mechanism and con- trol it out of existence.

The financial columns of the capitalist Press are full of praise for the 'expertise' and the 'wisdom' of the market operators and the reader is left to draw the moral that the market should be left un- touched. The absence of controls over the Euro-currency market inesday April 25, 1973 IS precisely the attraction which brings in both borrow- ers and lenders. So-called Euro-currency is nothing more than paper money (dollars, sterling, trancs, etc.)

held by non-residents of the issuing country. For this reason it is free of exchange controls and can be traded without any formali- ties for paper held by other people in a similar position.

Euro-currency is bought and sold, borrowed and loaned and used to buy other forms of inflationary paper such as Euro-bonds. The operators fear the im- position of controls could drag down the whole show and demolish unstable edifice of credit built up over the past 15 years. They have developed a marked hostility to 'politicians' expressed most recently in 'The Times' by S. M. Yassukovich, director of White Weld, investment bankers. It would be quite wrong, in Yassukovich's to blame speculators Euro-market's problems. These men, he says, are 'often emi- nently respectable duty-con- scious corporate managers seeking only to protect the value of assets entrusted to their husbandry'! The fault, he says, lies with the 'sometimes irresponsible and often con- flicting economic policies of the major industrial and trad- ing nations. 'One can only hope,' he writes, 'that [the politicians] obsession with the Euro-mar- ket and its role in accelerating the present crisis will not lead to measures prompting future historians to say "the opera- tion success but the was a patient died"' There are any number of reasons for the market opera- tors' concern. For one thing imposition the of controls, particularly in London, would cut deep into the parasitic profits the City has gained from the Euro-currency bon- ánza. For another if controls were introduced to have any effect at all in protecting national economies they would almost certainly result in a sharp de- cline in borrowing and virtual paralysis of turnover between banks. 'Under such circumstances, writes Mr Yassukovich, noticeable decline in world trade and investment must be counted a strong possibility.'

There are even worse skele- tons in the cupboard: 'Euro-currency credits have largely by been supplied a banking system relying on its continuing ability to buy de- posits in a free, wholesale market not founded on a savings base which natural characteristically supports a national banking system. 'Furthermore, an important proportion of the banks sup- plying such credit are operat- ing in a currency not their own and without last resort facilities from official an source.' On their home ground, commercial banks can avert bankruptcy if necessary by pledging their long-term paper for cash loans from the central bank. There is no such mechanism on the Euro-markets, leaving borrowers in constant danger of being 'caught short' with- out the ready cash to pay in- terest on their debts. This is especially the case for some former colonial and semi-colonial countries which are financing fixed investments with credits at variable rates.

borrowers,' 'Such Yassu- kovich comments, 'are taking colossal gambles on the mone- tary status quo? If the influx of new funds; to the Euro- markets dries up (as a result of controls or for other rea- sons) they may be unable to borrow the money they need to finance their projects and the result could be a major crash. Nor is it simply a question of some Ruritanian financing The from far-away places. been banks themselves have indulging in some very ques- The re- tionable practices. in margins and duction lengthening of maturities The Finance Ministers of three European countries, Schmidt of Germany (left), Barber of Eng- land (top) and Giscard d'Estaing of France (above). The Bankers fear that the 'politicians' may get their hands on the delicate Euro- market mechanism and control it out of existence. characterizing Euro-currency lending in the past year give rise to some concern about the inherent liquidity of the system now se glibly discussed as an area of major reform in the new monetary compromise under negotiation by politi- cians.' And Yassukovich adds por- tentously: 'Excessive liquidity chasing lending opportunities of declining quality has been a fairly customary danger sign in the past. He can certainly say that again! Galbraith in his book 'The Great Crash' talks about how in the 1929 crash 'loans which would have been per- fectly good were made per- fectly foolish by the collapse of the borrower's prices or the markets for his goods or the value of the collateral he had posted'. All that can be said is that the bankers of those days were relatively unsophisticated by comparison with some of the Euro-market operators. They have developed system where the banker no longer has any real guarantee about the security of his loans and may not, in many cases, even know the identity of the borrower.

FRENCH CP SUPPORTS A

Marchais, secretary of the Communist Party whose statement says, '(we) have never ceased to agitate for a real union of the nation and Its army.'

The French Communist Party has reaffirmed its support for 'national de- fence' and for a conscript army during the current campaign against the call-up. It claims that conscription should be retained to prevent the complete professionaliza- tion of the army. At the present time,' says the Party's paper 'L'Humanité' (April 14), 'when military means still re- main an indispensable but limited element in national security, the Communist Party for its part has never ceased to agitate for a real union of the nation and its army' While the French army is still composed of conscript soldiers to the extent of two-.

thirds of the total force, the navy and air force are pre- dominantly professional. Of the armed forces as a whole, there are 305,000 volunteers against 268,000 conscripts.

professional The soldiers, particularly the officer corps, occupy key positions in the nuclear striking force and control the most modern arms.

The French Communist Party long abandoned ago the struggle against militarism and revolutionary work inside the armed forces. Now it says: 'As long as the risk of military interference or pressure from outside exists, our people will consider the possession of an apparatus of defence as in- dispensable for the protection of the integrity of the national soil.' With this nationalist, class- collaborationist position the Communist Party's criticism of a professional army remains hollow. In practice it supports the and its protests army against the abolition of defer- ments for conscripts during their studies is hypocritical.

In fact, communist deputies did not oppose the Debré law of 1970 which abolished these deferments. It has had to take part in the campaign which has mobilized hundreds of thous- ands of high school students and young workers against the call-up in order to keep it under control as far as possible.

The Party was desperately afraid of a situation developing like that of May 1968. It now hides behind the dangers to 'democracy' from a professional army to re-affirm its defencist position and its support for conscription. This enables it to indulge in a little demagogic criticism of the army while showing what a loyal supporter it is of 'the integrity of the national soil'.

Instead of calling for a struggle against the bourgeoisie and its army, it asks humbly for more rights to be accorded to conscripts-such the as right to read 'L'Humanité' in their barracks and votes at 18.

It was Maurice Thorez, the Party's secretary-general who, in 1944-1945, called for 'one police force, army, one one state' and dissolved the partisan m Marchais, secretary of the Communist Pa formations which had played a leading part in clearing the country of the Nazi occupying troops. As a result many Com- munist Party members were incorporated into the regular army (and the police forces).

When the Indo-China war broke out, it was the same Thorez who ordered Com- officers and munist Party soldiers sent against the Viet- namese Revolution to remain at their posts. In 1954 a spontaneous move- ment of conscripts began against being sent to take part in the Algerian war. Again the Party opposed this movement and never took any Where is Britain Going? Paperback 373p Problems of the British Revolution Lessons of October Paperback 60p In Defence of the October Revolution Pamphlet 15p Marxism and the Trade Unions Pamphlet 25p Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International Pamphlet 10p Postage: 10p per book, 5p per pamphlet.

Order from: NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS 186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG munist Party whose statement says, '(We) have stand against the war as it had war in done against the Rif in the Morocco 1920s. Although some soldiers, includ- ing Communist Party members, went over to the side of the Vietnamese and the Algerians, it was without Party approval.

When the Gaullist regime was threatened by a military coup in 1961, the Party called the conscripts to oppose on their rebel generals, which meant support for the govern- ment of the Fifth Republic. Today, when large masses of youth are arrayed against militarism and the call-up and are looking for a lead, the only reply of the Communist It's wonderful to be a Chelsea pensioner. These relics of blood-thirsty imper- Britain's ialist past are in great demand by ex-servicemen everywhere. They get invited to holiday resorts all over the country -but not Blackpool any more. The Blackpool ex-service Workers Press, Wedr we) have never ceased to agitate for a real uni Party is: democratic rights for the conscript soldiers. 'L'Humanité' even says that many of the officers and NCOs have shown that they do not want to be cut off from the people and also want full citizen rights to be extended to career soldiers. "The aspira- tion for real democracy,' says, 'is growing in all sectors of national life. Why should the army be immune?" So what the Party wants is "real democracy' and a 'national army' in line with the other reformist policies of the Com- mon Programme. Meanwhile the armed forces, in practice, remain the corps liaison committee has closed ranks and voted unanimously to break the 20-year tradition.

It seems the ancient redcoats are getting a little cavalier about their treats. They get such good treat- ment wherever they go they tend to complain when things are not perfect. Last year, for Associa- instance,

RAF

tion at nearby Fleetwood laid on a meal. But not one of the pensioners turned up or sent an apology. So this year the pensioners will not be invited back. Mr D. M. Ratcliffe, assistant secre- tary at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, says he is looking into the matter. Surprise, surprise, guess who is one of the earliest sup- of the 'alternative porters TUC'-that rag bag of organi- zations registered under the Indi ess, Wednesday April 25, 1973

PAGE 9

a real union of the nation and its army.'

d'élite of the ruling class, ready for use against the workers.

The conscript soldiers, cut off from the outside world as far possible, sent to isolated camps for training and brain- washing, will, it hopes, be prepared for such a role.

In its early days the Com- munist International said the task of its constituent sections should be a struggle against militarism and the building of communist cells in the armed forces. The French Communist all the Stalinist Party, and long Parties, have abandoned such a principled position in favour of national their own' defence behind ruling class. Industrial Relations Act.

The first well - wisher has been that well-known suppor- ter of trade unions Edward Heath. He has written to the organizer of the 'mini-TUC' which has its headquarters in Coventry, saying he would be pleased to hear the views of unions to seek to make the Industrial Relations Act work.

PAGE 10 Workers Press, wednesday April 25, 1973

TODAY'S TV

BBC 1

ITV

т.. 9.30 Yoga. 9.55 Film: "Tarzan and the 10.00 Magic 103s Sunda horse: 05 moan splits. horse: iron road. She-Devil'. Lex Barker. 11.15 Gallop- Bony. i2.05 The too about 11.55 Bugs 11.40 Cartoon. school. ing gourmet. Houdini. Rainbow. 12.25 Cuddles and co. 12.40 12.55 News. 1.00 Pebble Mill at First report. 1.00 Scotch corner. 1.30 One• 1.30 Barnaby. 1.45 Made in Britain.

Crown 2.00 Harriet's back in 2.05 "Island Blue town. 2.30 Good afternoon! 3.00 Film: Larry Domasin, the Dolphins'. Celia Kaye, Epsom spring meeting. 4.20 Sooty 3.35 Rontu. the T(0) 8 show. 4.50 Jensen code. 5.20 Univer- form. 4.00 Huckleberry hound. 4.10 Play 4.35 Jackanory. 4.50 Boss 4.50 Boss sity challenge. 5.50 News. sch SchOEvent. 6.00

DAVID

CASSIDY WEEKEND

5.45 News. Weather. AT

WEMBLEY.

6.00 NATIONWIDE.

6.35

CROSSROADS.

6.45

ASK THE FAMILY.

7.00

THIS IS YOUR LIFE.

7.05 TOMORROW'S WORLD.

PETERS

.30 SHOW. With 7.30

CORONATION STREET.

Barbara Mitchell. 8.00

SHUT THAT

DOOR!

Larry 8.00 COLDITZ. Maximum Security. Grayson and Des guest

SIX FROM

COLDITZ.

Airey 8.50 O'Connor. MP for Abingdon, Neave, was the first prisoner to OF Kritich 8.30

THE

BEST

FATHER,

escape irom Colditz.

DEAR

FATHER.

Come Back 9.00 NEWS. Weather. Little Sheba. 9.25

SPORTSNIGHT.

Pro-Am- 9.00 SPECIAL BRANCH. Assault. jumping Tunior relay Show championships.

10.00 NEWS. 10.30 FOOTBALL.

10.15 MOIRA

PERSON.

Moira IN Anderson with Paco Pena. 11.25

ARMCHAIR

30. 'Harry

10.45 MIDWEEK.

Featuring Moshe Sebrof's Story'. With Alfred Dayan. Marks.

11.30 LATE NIGHT NEWS.

NIGHT GALLERY.

11.55 11.35 MAN AT WORK. Down With Drudgery! 12.50

CHURCHES

ARE

FOR

12.00 Weather.

PEOPLE.

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CHANNEL: 1.15 News. 1.30 London.

Nello. 6.l Linkup. 6.35 London. 6.00 Treasure unt. 7.30 London: 8.30 6.35 London. This is your life. 9.00 London.

Epilogue. News weather French. WESTWARD. As Channel except: 9.50 Danger man. 10.45 Trade winds Tahiti. 11.35 Dr Simon Locke. 12.05 London. 12.37 Gus 12.40 Honeybun. London. 12.57 News. 1.00 London. 6.00 Diary. 11.52 : News. 11.55 Faith life. SOUTHERN: 10.00 Paulus. 10.15 Yoga.

Bluenose 11.05 Gilbert 10.40 shore. and Sullivan. 12.00 News. 12.05 Lon- Housepart Crossroads. 2.30 3.00 London. 5.25 5.20 5.50 London. 6.00 7.00 Lon- don. 8.30 Anna King. 9.00 London. 11:55 News. 12.05 Weather. Guideline. HARLECH: 10.00 Sara and Hoppity. 10.10 Nuts and bones. 10.20 Seaspray.

10.45 Days of our youth. 11.10 Press call. 11.35 Report. 12.05 London. 2.3( Houseparty. 3.00 London. 5.20 5.25 Crossroads. Chuckleheads. 5.50 6.01 Report 6.15 West. Report 6.30 Cuckoo in the London. nest. 7.00 11.55 European 12.25 Weather. journey.

HTV

Cymru/Wales as above except: 4.20 Miri 4.35-4.50 Cantamil. mawr. 6.01-6.15 Y dydd.

HTV

West as above except: 6.15-6.30 Report West. 10.00

ANGLIA: 9.40

Police cadet. Cartoons. 10.10 Paulus. 10.20 Ani- 11.05 mated classics. Galloping gourmet. 11.35 Joe 90. 12.04 News. 12.05 London. 2.30 Houseparty. 3.00 London. 6.00 About Anglia. 6.35 Lon- London. don. 8.30 Protectors. 9.00

ATV MIDLANDS: 11.00

Mr Piper. 11.10 Acres for profit. 11.30 Survival. 12.00 Programme guide. 12.05 London.

6.00 ATV

8.30 Upper crusts. London. Baron. Weather.

UTV

12.05 11.35 report. News. Cartoon. London. 2.30 2.40 Romper room. 3.00 London. 6.00 UTV reports. 6.35 London. 8.30 Anna and the king. 9.00 London. 11.55 You and your golf. LONDON's 23,000 busmen have been stopped by the Tory pay laws from nego- tiating. improved working conditions as part of a deal implementation due for earlier this month. The deal, which • provides for increases the Pay Board. A verdict is expected within the next few days. But even if the increases are allowed to go through-and there seems little reason why they should not be-many crews in the city work on • will stop Tuesday of next week in pro- test against the pay laws.

They will take this action des- pite what will, in some cases, be penalties, big financial Under a guaranteed week agreement, some workers could lose up to £14.50 by striking on they May 1. This is because would be missing one of the five guaranteed shifts covered by the agreement. Principle Busmen are also well aware that a one-day strike is no more than a protest-and on its own will certainly not defeat the pay laws-but there is strong feel- ing for the stoppage despite this.

George Payne, a conductor the member of Transport anc General Workers' Union at Dal- east London, ex- ston garage, plained that for him it was a matter of principle. He estimated that since the Tories had come to power his standard of living had been cut by a third. The pay laws, he said, prevented him from fighting to give his family what they needed. This had affected the family's diet: 'When we can afford meat at all these days it's chicken, chic- ken, chicken-nothing else is cheap enough.' Union representatives at Dal- ston will be holding two meet- ings today to discuss May I, and George and several of his col- they leagues said would be voting to come out. 'We should back the union on this one'

BBC 2

11.00-11.25 Play school.

7.05 HOMES

The View t

HOME-

LESS.

from Cit Hall. 7.30 NEWS. Weather. 7.35 Lonese chaplain Cn he East

STRANGER.

8.00 MAN ALIVE. Someone from

YORKSHIRE:

10.00 Ed Allen time. 10.20 About Britain. 10.45 Last stand.

11.10 Whickrr. 11.35 12.05 Rovers. London. 2.30 Jobs around the house. 3.00 London. 6.00 Calendar. 6.35 Lon- don. 8.30 Comedians. 9.00 London. 12.00 You and golf. 12.30 your Weather. GRANADA: 9.30 Enchanted house.

9.45 Time to remember. 10.10 Jack- five. 10.30 Galloping son gourmet. 10.55 Cartoon. 11.00 Scotland Yard casebook, 11.30 Primus. 11.50 Hammy Hamster. 12.05 London. 5.15 Nature's 5.20 Crossroads. 5.50 London.

window. 6.00 Newsay. What's on. 6.30 Univer- sity challenge. 7.00 London. 8.30 Anna and the king. 9.00 London. 11.55 Evil touch. TYNE TEES: 9.20 Jesus is alive. 9.30 Enchanted house. 9.45 10.10 Arthur. Fois Pursut 10.2 Deleen Piss Pursuit excellence. Report. 12.05 London. 12.25_ Hammy Hamster. 12.40 London. 6.00 Today at 6.35 London. 8.30 Comedians. six. 9.00_ London. 11.25 News. 11.40 Streets Lectern. of San Francisco. 12.35

SCOTTISH: 10.00

No easy answer. 10.45 Flipper. 11.35 11.10 Press call. STV report. 12.05 London. 2.30 Date- line. London. 3.00 5.25 Crossroads. 5.50 London. 6.00 Scotland today. 6.30 University 7.00 London. challenge. 11.55 Late call. 12.00 Blue light.

COS London! 5.15 Wildlife theatre.

London. Wildlife theatre. 5.50 London. 6.00 News. 6.05 Thomp teatime. 6.35 London. 11.55 son at Meditation.

INTERVIEWS BY DA

T&GWU delegate at Chalk Farm bus garage, Fred Hobbs. against the "freeze" you must strike.' Fred Hobbs, T&GWU delegate at another garage which plans to strike, Chalk Farm, explained that this will be the second year the men and women • the buses will have fallen victim to the Tory pay policy. Last April, when the Heath government was fighting to limit to 8 per cent or lower, rises they accepted an offer of £1.85 to £2 only to find that soon after London Transport Underground he Welfare • • To Do What Social worl

9.00 FILM:

•BRIGHTON ROCK'.

Attenborough, Harten ardel Marshi William murder a louralister plans to 10.30 EDITION. The Small World o the Local Weekly. 11.00 NEWS. Weather. Larry Domasin as Ramo in 'Island of the Blue Dolphins' on BBC 1.

IS BY DAVID MAUDE

workers were granted 12t per cent. The busmen went back for more-and in November were granted £l on basic rates plus £1.50 on shift allowances.

But this was conditional on acceptance of changes in sche- dules and rest-day arrangements.

A bid to impose these uni- laterally had already led to in- dustrial action in some parts of London. And there is still linger- ing resentment in the garages at the way the changes were through in November swung "freeze, Pressure of the Tory under This year the union had been hoping changes, parti- to win cularly shorter weekend work- ing. Said Fred Hobbs: 'They're attempting away the "unionists right to nego- trade tiate better and condi- wages tions. It's taking people some to wake up to this, time the message is going home.

'We had seven weeks out on strike in, 1958, and though we in terms of didn't win a lot wages we showed our strength and that's still here if they want to take us on again. Right Of course a one-day stoppage won't destroy the "freeze" the Tory government-eve ex plained to my people that if they strike next week they won't immediately get a £10 rise or something. 'But it's important to see the big picture. We must retain our right to protest. 'So far the decision to strike here on May I stands.'

Speculative dealings fraught with dangers Reflation pushes up ship orders in British yards Dockers press for re-call conference BUILDING site pickets who face charges under the 1875 Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act will not now be tried for another four weeks, it was learned yesterday. Defence lawyers for the 24 men, all of whom were originally due to appear in for a today, asked court second adjournment. It will probably not now be heard until May 25. GROCERY prices have risen dur- ing April faster than in any month since the government brought in laws banning wage increases and free collective- bargaining. The 'Financial Times' grocery price index also reveals that foods have risen 8 percent since November, when the Tories pas- sed their first laws to control inflation. This is more proof of the rapid drop in real wages suffered by working-class family in every Britain. Prices of all but three of the ten categorles covered showed in TRANSPORT and General Workers' Union leaders will face strong pressure tomor- row to re-call the union's national docks delegate con- ference. The pressure will come mainly from representatives of the northern ports at a meeting of the T&GWU docks trade group committee. But though Liverpool and Hull SLOUGH: Wednesday April 25, 8 p.m. Community Centre, Farn- Road. 'TUC must call a ham General Strike to make the Tories resign'. TONBRIDGE: Wednesday April 8 р.m. 'The Foresters' 25, Quarry Hill Road. 'Make Scan- No collaboration lon retract. with the Pay Board' HACKNEY: Wednesday April 25, 8 p.m. Parlour Room, Central 'Economic Street. Hall, Mare Crisis and the Rising Cost of Living'. CROYDON: Thursday April 26, 8 p.m. Ruskin House, Coombe Road. 'Marxism and the trade unions'. DERBY: Thursday April 26, 7.30 Branch Room, National p.m. Society of Metal Mechanics, 15 Charnwood Street. WILLESDEN: Thursday April 26, 8 p.m. Brent Labour and Trades Hall, Willesden Road, High N.W.10. 'Build Councils of Action'. HOLLOWAY: Thursday April 26, 8 p.m. Co-op Hall, Seven Sisters 'The economic crisis and Road. the rising cost of living' Shrewsbury police When the an- men were re- nounced the first adjourn- manded on bail, on March 15, until May 18, building workers, dock- ment, last Friday. ers and steelworkers demon- outside strated the court But number of defen- against the trial. dants would have been

BUIDING

able to attend on that day, massive 800-strong and in view of both this and police operation was moun- the amount of paper invol- ted outside the court and ed, the defence approached bringing coaches demon- the prosecution more sualors into une town trom Merseyside Mid- time. and the lands stopped were and The charges-a total of searched. 210 are involved--arise from Further events during last year's demonstrations Trade unionis building strike. are expected on May 25.

BY OUR OWN CORRESP

THE

SHIPBUILDING

(SRNA) have reported a reviv with British yards compared year ago. This reflects the refla attempted by the UK and o an increase. The worst affected were tomatoes and eggs, which ments to break out of the eco in some cases were 6p more a dozen than last month. But the situation facing the industry is still fraught In the non-food sector, which with difficulties. Some of the includes goods such as deter- the price rise was 6 per gents, new orders are of a very cent in April annual alonean speculative kind. 72 The rate of per cent. in- The Israeli Fruit Maritime creases on detergents and soaps Company will pay for the ships are a result of permission by the with borrowed capital secured Department of Trade for price against leasing contracts increases. stretching future. far the Other The 'Financial Times' orders still being survey showed that the monthly shop- taken at prices which, view 1n one family cost of uncontrollable world inflation, ping in March compared with may mean eventual losses to the manufac- builders, even though escalator usually included and they expect further clauses are fixed-price contracts are a rarity.

Increases this month. initiate the de- of 'casual', are expected to amount supplemen- mand for a re-call, it is also likely tary labour, which now forms al- to receive support from represen- most 7 per cent of the national of London and a number workforce in the industry.

tatives of smaller ports. Unlike dockers registered as Fears Dock growing among the permanents under the T&GWU's 30.000 docker Labour Scheme, mem- supplementaries bers that their jobs, wages and, can be sacked at a week's notice, particularly, conditions are com- either by their immediate employ- under er or the Dock Labour Board.

ing renewed attack from several quarters. They can thus be used as One issue of great concern is lever for speed-up and the break- down of established working con- the backing given by Tory Minis- ters the increase the ditions and union organization.

MIDDLETON

WALTHAMSTOW:

Wednesday (Manchester): "The Thursday April 26, New May 2, 8 p.m. p.m. Bell', Hoe 'Report Inn, Long Street. Market Place, Street. back from May Middleton. Day must begin Day'. 'May the General Strike'.

WEMBLEY:

Wednesday May 2.

WYTHENSHAWE

(Manchester): Copland School, High ad Reppra April 26, Thursday, 'The p.m. Road. Back from May Happy Portway. May Man', The Day'. Day Strike' WOOLWICH: Wednesday May 2,

GLASGOW

(Engineers' and Shioyard 8 p.m. 'The Castle', Powis Street, Workers' meetina): <F18 May 'Report back from Saturday April 28, 10 am. Room Day' Partick Burgh Hall. 'Make Scanlon retract.

FELTHAM:

Thursday May 3,

HEMEL

HEMPSTEAD:

Monday Felt- p.m. Three Horse Shoes' April 30, 8 p.m. Adey- High Street, ham Feltham, Hall. field Queens Middlesex. The Fight against the 'Defend Basic Democratic Tories after May Dav Rights'. Control md BriMon Trainim.

8 p.m. EAST LONDON: Monday April 30, Control Room. Brixton 8 p.m. Bromley Public Hall. Bow 'Report back Centre. from May E.3. Force Road, All out May 1! Day'.

TUC

to General the call a

LEWISHAM:

Strike! Monday May 7. Deptford Club, p.m. Engineers' WANDSWORTH: Monday April 30.

opp. New Cross Station 'The 'Kings Arms', High Street, p.m. role of the

TUC

in the fight S.W.18. 'Trotskyism and Stalin- against the Tories' ism'. SOUTHALL: Wednesday May 2, BATTERSEA: Tuesday May 8. 8 p.m. 'Naas Head' anr Wands. 8 p.m. Southall Library, Osterley 'Report back from North Park Road. worth Road and Street. May. Day'. 'Report back from May Day'.

Workers Press, Wednes

TDIEASUMISE

BUIIDING

de unionists march during the last court hearing

CORRESPONDENT

employers' association a revival in new orders placed pared to the crisis levels of a the reflationary measures being • and other capitalist govern- the economic crisis. Reflecting some of these con- the Association has com- cerns, mented that the improved order books 'do not alter the problems that British shipbuilders have in yards competing with foreign supported by their governments, either financially or through pro- tective measures'. order book now The total stands at 243 ships with a gross of 4,971,000, worth tonnage £813m. But the SRNA expressed the hope that the government would not allow the present im- proved position to obscure long- term problems. The way for this attack has been paved by the big shake-out of labour from the docks under the Jones-Aldington special sever- ance scheme. Almost 10,000 jobs have been lost in the industry as a result of this scheme, on top of the 20,000 which went after the T&GWU accepted Lord Devlin's 'modern- ization' plan in 1967. Many docks delegates now say they were 'conned' at the delegate conference last August which accepted Jones-Aldington and called off the national strike.

This feeling has been re- inforced by the recent report of the National Ports Council on the unregistered port and wharves lying outside the Dock Labour Scheme. report, the promise of The which formed part of the final Jones-Aldington package, failed to recommend that these non- Scheme ports be made to regis- ter. Yet it revealed that they are draining away an increasing pro- portion of trade from the Scheme ports. On all these points the T&GWU leadership faces a bitter reckoning with dockers if the national delegate conterence is re-called. 01-720 2000 01-622 7029 s, Wednesday April 25, 1973 PAGE 11 irt hearing.

BY WORKERS PRESS

CORRESPONDENT

RUCHELL MAGEE, one of the remaining Soledad Brothers, is to be re-tried on a charge of "aggravated kidnap'. He faces a possible life sentence with- out parole. who originally Magee, was charged with Angela Davis, is already serving a life term in San Quentin state prison.

His recent 11-week trial ended on April 3 with the jury dead- locked over the murder charge which emerged from the Marin County shoot-out in 1970.

Magee's re-trial has been scheduled to begin on May 29.

SOCIALIST LABOUR

LEAGUE MEETINGS

Make Scanlon retract! No collaboration with the Industrial Relations Act!

No acceptance of Phase Two! Force the Tories to resign! Build the revolutionary party! North London

WEDNESDAY APRIL 25

8 p.m. Woodlands Hall, Crown Street, Acton, W.3. East London

SUNDAY APRIL 29

7.30 p.m. Abbey Hall, Axe Street (Behind Barking town hall) Luton

FRIDAY APRIL 27

8 p.m. Recreation Centre, Old Bedford Road Sheffield

WEDNESDAY MAY 2

7.30 p.m. 'Grapes Inn' Trippett Lane Speaker : Cliff Slaughter (SLL Central Committee) Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Published by Workers Press. 186a SW4 ondon. 7UG. Printed tough Pretendon sw Plough Newsdesk: 01-720 2000. Circulation: 01-622 7029.0

Looking out over Lambeth... tight security net round court PAGE 12 Workers Press, Wednesday April 25, 1973 They went into action Police look out over Lambeth.

10' yesterday when the 'Belfast came up for trial charged with causing explosions in London on March 8.

Vans were searched. Police with patrolled the dogs streets around the court and a strong police guard escorted the black Maria to the court. From behind the darkened windows several of the accused smiled and waved at people outside.

THE

PRISONERS'

Aid 'under constant threat of harass- ment from the English police...

Committee has decided that On Friday, April 13, for example, May will be special Pri- 100 Irish families were over soners' Month' for Irish raided and had their homes though political prisoners in Eng- taken only apart This is a clear land. arrests followed case of intimidation'. At least 40 Irish men and Month' 'Prisoners' has been senten- women are now serving named for May as part of a cam- ces or are on remand in England for paign financial support for and have been are likely or to the regular donations which be convicted for their political committee pays to prisoners' de- beliefs and activities. pendants and for travel costs for The committee points out that visits between Ireland and Eng- Irish workers in England land. 1,334,241

LLOYDS

Register of Shipping This is tons more yesterday warned of a sharp end than the last quarter. world to the current shipbuild- There are also record 2,106 'boom'. ing ships order. totalling on Reporting record tonnage 73,498,078 tons gross, which figures for ships being built and 11.349.857 than the more last bumper world order book, quarter. Llovd's said: The world order book is now It is diffieult to foresee a con- extraordinary only marginally short of 100 mil- of tinuation this lion tons gross, report adds. the rate of contracting with order The figure of 99,182,826 tons is books in the leading shipbuilding 12684.098 tons more than the countries now extended well 1977: last quarter. into World figures for the This increase in one quarter is quarter ended March 31 show that 2,052 more than the entire world out- 25.684.748 ships of tons gross put barely eight years ago. being built- the highest Japan soaked up more than a are figure ever recorded. third of the rise.

APRIL FUND NOW STANDS AT

£708.89 — ONLY 6 DAYS TO GO

THE SITUATION

is now extra sacrifice for ourselves. very Monthly urgent for our Appeal Everywhere workers are deter- Fund. At the moment looks mined to fight back against the Tories as though we might not reach and their attacks on our We 91.750 target. only democratic rights. Only Wor- and Press can provide have six more days we kers a clear, not reached our halfway political lead today for this

HANO

mark. fight. We know that vou have never Our Fund therefore is more and we vital. Without it let us down are con- than we are fident that with a huge all-out unable to produce our paper could day. We appeal to effort immediately, we each you We still target. all. dear readers. Let's turn reach that the cost of the now. Make the realize huge situation living biting into your biggest effort yet - and we Rush pockets and that this month might do it. all your asking for an extra donations to: to be Workers Press Appeal Fund effort made with our Party Development Fund. 186a Clapham High Street But ask for this London, SW4 7UG we do not

YOUNG

SOCIALISTS

AND

SOCIALIST LABOUR

LEAGUE

DEFEND BASIC DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

NORTH WEST: Assemble 10 a.m. Islington,

LONDON:

Assemble: p.m. Speakers Corner, Marble Momin® Speakers: Live coo Meet. soo Lena nan. Pancras Assembly Rooms. Liverpool. Speakers:

CORIN

REDGRAVE.

G.

HEALY

(SLL

Sec),

MAUREEN

SARAH HANNIGAN

(Keep Left Nat editorial Pageant BAMBRICK (YS Nat Sec). Première show- доата). snowing ing of Pageant film. film.

SCOTLAND:

Assemble: 10 a.m. Blythwood Garden Square. Glasgow. Meeting: 7.30 p.m. Rest, near Leeds Hall. Meeting: Town Halls, George's Cross. Guildford Headrow. wooaside 7.30 Hotel, Central Speakers: MIKE

BANDA

(SLL

•beakersi SuLL "workers Press Committee)

GORDON

BAILEY

(YS Nat editorial board). DAVE BIRD (YS National Committee). Première showing of Pageant Committee). HIm

MIDLANDS:

Assemble 11 a.m. Digbeth; Centre. Meeting: Civic Hall, Birmingham. Meeting: 7.30 0 m Civic Centre, Speakers: Digbeth. Speakers: Jarrow. Assembly

STEPHEN JOHNS

(Workers Press editorial

SLAUGHTER

committee ),

GARY

GURMEET

(Editor Keep Left). board), JOHN SIMMANCE (Young Social Première showing of Pageant film.

ists). 5.30 Caedraw Assemble: p.m.

WALES:

7.30 Meeting: Mentyr.

ROY

Caedraw School, Merthyr. Speakers:

BATTERSBY,

KIKI

OBERMER

(Young vocialiss ..