Workers Press no. 69

Whither Europe in the 1970s? workers press

PUBLISHED FROM TUESDAY TO SATURDAY •

The case for a Socialist United States of Europe

BY ROBERT BLACK

What we FROM THE LONDON "Times' and the Moscow think go up 'Izvestia' comes the same message: Europe must Decimal unite. How each paper sets about justify- ing the need to unify Europe reveals coin and possible form the clearest of imperialism and the In kea crisis Soviet bureaucracy. the cost Firstlv "The Times'. In its editorial of January 1, the case is made for britisn entre into coe common Market of living without naste our witnour rest.

Noting that the new brandt govern ment in West Germanv is both mode

LONDON

ransport's pre- and constructive' "The Times' claim: dicted 100 per cent it in its tube fares, forecast Britain further for the a partne as a real! British into the Common "Decimalization' ostensibly Telegraphists say: we know nothing about govt. report amic ties Do dens AS Electi yesterday • into eared That the working Class iterally P.J. guerrilla ral relations adeler action? relations Soviets in Decen akates with are being. taken

• PAGE FOUR COL. 1 →

White-collar anxiety about redundancies orked at the Derby, Huc mon will lose their whether it as rea volved have! leaders they rested.

• PAGE FOUR COL. 5 →

Overtime is still being The daily organ of the Central Committee of the Socialist Labour League PRICE 6d. Briefly

SLA COMPENSATION

ist church is PaY crippled cam for e inse nation highest estimate so far.

AIRCRAFT JOBS

Sior finn tael Short Brothers and ir Cause Di its skin the transe port arraft. financial Lot with

STOP WILSON'S VISIT

Coal prices to

TO WASHINGTON

THE

National Coal Board yesterday revealed C.P. ranks that coal prices are to be increased by 10 per cent attempting to push from this anual y still defying ycal comes board, comes only e lew monuns alter tne pre tos, 81,000 profils advanced Gollan line three-quarters VIous increase in october last year. balance will be E1,743.000.

YOUNG SOCIALISTS' national secretary Sheila sharply rising Torrance interviewed yesterday's Ceman Chemical

MERGER

WaN Bone and tower pad vo! which Workers Press on the next stages of the cam- paign to stop Wilson's visit to Nixon later this in size, has set up world month.

• PAGE FOUR COL. 3 →

to Your replies i of joint

YOUR LAST CHANCE TO TAKE

OF

NEW

PARK

ADVANTAGE

• vietnamese

PUBLICATIONS'

SPECIAL OFFER!

bid by full on pages two to tal arm terror tenson The offer will end on Monday, January 5, 1970 leader The Age of

THE NOE OF

ГЕЛМАЛЕНТ Permanent Revolution Ralph and

ANTHOLOGY

eight en ais tries

A TROTSKY

y Pierc

ANTHOLOGY

GREET

Editor Isaac

WORKERS PRESS

Deutscher PRICE 95 6d USUAL PRICE £1 15s Revolutionary at a public meeting Silhouettes See the film of the first issue being prepared and printed and the film 'Young Socialists, 1969' By A. V. Lunacharsky Sunday January 25, 2-30 p.m.

alive in there Town Hall, High Street

ACTON

Culture. Speakers :

SHEILA TORRANCE

ALL FOR £1 POST FREE

(National Secretary of the Young Socialists)

MIKE BANDA

Send at once to: (Editor of Workers Press) Special Offer, New Park Publications Ltd.,

G. HEALY

186a Clapham High Street, London, SW4.

(National Secretary of Socialist Labour League)

Whither Europe in the 1970s? workers press

PUBLISHED FROM TUESDAY TO SATURDAY • NUMBER 69

• SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1970

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER

The case for a Socialist United States of Europe

BY ROBERT BLACK

What we FROM THE LONDON Times' and the Moscow think go up 'Izvestia' comes the same message: Europe must Decimal unite. How each paper sets about justify- ing the need to unify Europe reveals coin and clearest DOSS DIe linked crisis of imperialism and the Dovier bureaucracy. the cost Firstly 'The Times'. In its editorial ot January 1, the case is made (TOl British entry into the Common Market of living without naste, but without rest.

Noting that the new Brandt govern- ment in West Germany is

LONDON

Transport's pre- 100 are ana construcuve 1nc cucted Cell it is thererore apparent tnal the pros crease In Its lube lares, pects Tor Doltical unication Torecast 1 nursady. turope. either with or witnout britair Toreshadows ruriner D1C. as a partner, are more favourable for the general increases in the cost oi living as a result capitalism's British drive into the Common *Decimalizatior shimits of Telegraphists Bismaete very the proce say: 'we know nothing about thể tears of the Brise is will one govt. report about ice Electrom orkers fo P.O. guerrilla action? with

• PAGE FOUR COL. 1

White-collar anxiety about redundancies - 0. 50. moke deton Dend Mon staf members men til lose their 106. are capitalists a Time the oak or plea a Te an over in wie draw ut the unio that if ried olved have no policy to Rolls uld bet, any Meande politiAnd team fabianis fide proposed redro Seito spains. 22, then Soviet bureaucracy,

• PAGE FOUR COL. 5 →

a series of guerrilla strikes.

together Overtime being The daily organ of the Central Committee of the Socialist Labour League

Y, JANUARY 3, 1970

PRICE 6d. Mr Markin, an international 500 victims destroys a la nepped saved uddhist churcl wah an highest simate so fat laimed Lan Short Brothers and Har- tWOD made redundant be .. Granera ofs the coi

STOP WILSON'S VISIT

Onenderwe ma of issee s

TO WASHINGTON

THE

National Coal Board yesterday revealed

COP:

are to be unal coal prices increased by 10 per cent anual y ycal. pre-ta: months ' 24,252,000 to arrst months after in October last year. balance will be M1,745,050.

neu It will be deeply resenter further move ry sharply YOUNG SOCIALISTS' national secretary Sheila Torrance was interviewed in yesterday's CALES: Goescht, hard ach will Workers Press on the next stages of the cam sion eradi lower-paid work paign to stop Wilson's visit to Nixon later this

• PAGE FOUR COL. 3 -

contemptible

YOUR LAST CHANCE TO TAKE

support for

ADVANTAGE

OF

NEW

PARK

PUBLICATIONS'

amese work- new rake tolow inted in • Ma gione on pages tw the firm Berger Jenson and Parte n le oner will end on Monday, January S. 197U Teaders at King AGNEW Ce

AMONG

The Age of Spiro by Cro: Permanent twester IS armed forces Revolution onists Dar

A TRUISK

and Ralph

ANTHOLOG

signatories ernes cig

A TROTSKY

ANTHOLOGY

and ETU

• PAGE FOUR COL. 9

GREET

Editor Isaac Deutscher PRICE ys od USUAL PRICE £l 15s Silhouettes see the m or the arst issue deins repared and printed and the film 'Young Socialists, 1969' By A. V. Lunacharsky Sunday January 25, 2-30 p.m.

any other leader Town Hall, High Street

ACTON

Culture. •peakers

SHEILA TORRANCE

ALL FOR £1 POST FREE

(National Secretary of the Young Socialists)

MIKE BANDA

Send at once to: (Editor of Workers Press) Special Offer, New Park Publications Ltd.,

G. HEALY

(National Secretary of Socialist Labour League) 186a Clapham High Street, London, SW4.

PAGE TWO

In it towards turn goes Vietnam. financing the war in THIS is the beginning We believe that your demand of a correspondence on "holiday" for a on January the 'Stop Wilson's visit should be politically broadened to Washington' workers to cam- by an appeal for paign in which we in- strike on January I as a pro- Wilson test against Visiting vite Communist Party Nixon. members to take part. The National Committee of the Young Socialists therefore campaign proposes joint along these lines to the Young Communist League. We would be pleased to dis- cuss the matter further with a from delegation your organ- and look forward ization LO hearing from you. Yours fraternally, J Sheila Torrance. Y.C.L. leader THE National Secretary of the Young Socialists sent the following letter answers. December 10 on to Barney Davis of the YCL. Dear Comrade, In recent issue of "Challenge" you call upon "all workers" "abstain from attending their place of ployment on January 1" under "Take the holiday the caption you ought to have" The Young Socialists have launched campaign against the war in Vietnam to "Stop Wilson going Washington" to at the end of January. This, in our opinion, is an opportunity to establish a re- lationship between the growing hostility towards Wilson's anti- working-class policies and opposition to the war in Viet- December 18, 1969 nam. Dear Mrs Torrance, Thank you for your letter from the National Committee The money which the Labour of the Young Socialists. The government is squeezing out of delay in inferred the working class, by deliber- reply in the 'Workers Press' (December 16) ately allowing of cost living to rise at the expense of is not wholly our fault, but American bankers in interest that of the Post Office and the on loans. Christmas Mail Rush.

B.B.C. 1

12.05 Western 12 noon Weatherman. with sympathe- Zckko! 124 Casey Jones. 12.25 tic Indians. Grandstand. 12.55 FA Cup 8.15 Val Doonican Show. International Ski 9.00 Vanity Fair: Serial. Review. 1.15 1.35. 2.05. 2.35. 3.05 9.45 Match Of The Day. Jumping. Racing From Haydock Park. 11.00 Braden's Week. 4.30 Motor-Cross. 11.40 Weatherman. 1.55, 3.25 Rugby Hull. League: Leeds 4.50 Results Service. 5.15 Dr ollo winio nimes region except at the Who. 5.40 The Debbie Reynolds Show. Midlands $11.42 Anglia, South and p.m. Weather. 6.05 News and Weather. North England: p.m .0.00-10.S 6.15 It's Cliff Richard. 5.00-5.15 10.45-11.00 Sentiand. 6.45 High Adventure: 'Broken Arrow'. Cadi With Stewart James and Chandler. Jeff First 11.00

B.B.C. 2

Cinema: 3.00-4.10 Saturdav 9.45 Review: 'Davy Crockett, Indian World Premieres Twelve Scout' Portrait and of a Rebel. Vith George Montgomery 10.30 The Jazz Age: egendary American fron 'Lily Christine' by Michael tiersman. Arlen. 7.00 News, Sport and Weather.

11.20 Colour Me Pop. Gardeners' World. 11.50 News. 7.30 Rugby Special: Bedford v. 11.55 Midnight Movie: "The Bristol. One Pair Of Eyes: Last Hurrah'. 8.15 Is the Law an Ass? With Spencer Tracitician Irish-American 9.00 Buddy Rich in London: With jazz guest stars. campaign. fights his

I.T.V.

7.35 12

RAC

Road Report Never A Cross Word. noon 8.05 *Rocky Mountain' 12.05 Thunderbirds. 12.55 p.m. News. 00 World Of Sport. 1.05 With Errol Flynn Patrici Scott Forbes and On The Ball. 1.20 They're Off. Wymore, 2.00 Slim Pickens. 1.30 1.45 Sandown. Ayr. .15 Sandown. 2.30 Ayr. 9.35 News. Ауг. 9.45 Saturday Night Theatre: 2 50 Sandown. 3.00 Ayr. International Sports Special: The 'Suffer Little Children' Rose Bowl from Pasadena, Cali- with Lee Montague and John Le Mesurier. fornia. (American football) Huddersfield. The Untouchables. 10.40 Wrestling 5.00 Results Service. 5.15 Doctor 11.35 All Our Yesterdays: Round-up of the last six In The House. 5.45 News From months of 1944.

ITN.

1550 Ronanza a.m. Outlook "70. 6.45 The John Davidson Show.

12.05 We welcome the fact that and wa rades t you are launching a campaign against the war in Vietnam.

in Mar Sinc We welcome all efforts to end Area that war. As you are launching of Mil this campaign, we are sure that your members and readers over Area would like to hear what the Young Communists have been Deal, Revolu doing on Vietnam for many years now. The basis for our alongsi campaigns have always been atives and th the principle that we on parlian do what our Vietnamese com- of 3,0 rades want us to do. Thus in 1965 we launched the first ever campaign for youth for Medical Aid for This Our members col- Vietnam. we ha lected over £2,500 worth of often i medical supplies to comple- we cal £100,000 plus confine ment the collected by the Medical Aid ations Committee for Vietnam. We have also launched a petition in names 1967 calling for 'All US troops course to get out of Vietnam'; over PRG a 70,000 people signed. Our use in members have also Our medic: played a leading part in get- lives c ting the urgent blood supplies have to Vietnam including our own blood donor session held under the auspices of "Challenge', which brought in over 280 pints. We are sure you will be pleased to hear that the 3,000th pint was collected just recently. In 1968 we were asked by our brother organ- ization in Vietnam to send supplies of material aid. Our members rallied to the call and we sent over 100 bicycles, six electric generators, two motor cycles, radios, bales of cloth camouflage etc. valued at over £6,000. As you will know we were one of the leading organiz- ations that campaigned for October 27, 1968 bringing out 100,000 young over people streets of London the onto against the war. In this year we have seen the involvement of the industrial working class.

The first worker's demonstra- tion on Vietnam was held in Sheffield on March 1 this year

REGIONAL I.T.V.

CHANNEL: 12.55 p.m. London. 5.15

ULSTER:

News. 6.15 Of Tarzan. 6.10 Wheel Ulster Sp Fortune. 6.45 London. 8.05 The Satur- The Giant day Film: 'Treasure Island' with Fortune. Berry and Lionel Barrymore.

10.00 Film: News. 10.10 Theatre. 11.10 Manhunt.

10.10 Sat 1.00 a.m. Weather. 12.05 a.m SOUTHERN: 12.52 p.m. Weather. 12.55 London. 5.15 Tarzan. 6.10 News. 6.15

YORKSHI

Michael Miles Quiz. 6.45 London. 8.05 The The Saturday Film: *80.000 Suspects', London. with Clair Bloom, Richard Johnson News. and Cyril Cusack. A killer epidemic 7.00 Neve and marriage troubles face a doctor Wallace. and his it Souther News Extra. 10.00 News. 10.10 News. Theatre. 11.10 11.10 11.20 The Naked 12.15 Late Wea Cy Inquiry a.m. Weather followed by Into Christmas.

GRANAD

WESTWARD. As Channel except at London. following times: 12.25 Our News. Thi p.m. All Yesterdays. 12.05 a.m. Faith For Life. 6.45 12.11 Weather. Cartoon 3 Show. News. 11.10-12.1

HARLECH:

12.30 Tinker And p.m. Unknown Tavlor. 12.55 London. 5.15 Tarzan. News. 6.15 Wheel Of Fortune. 6.10 6.45 London. 8.10 Saturday Cinema: "Trapeze' with Burt Lancaster and

TYNE 1

Tony Curtis. 10.00 News. 10.10 Theatre.

5.15 Tarz 11.10 Cinema: 'Woman In Green' a.m. Weathere and Nigel Bruce. 12.25 6.45 Lon Jungle' Hendry News. The Of Harlech (Wales) as above except: Closer 12.05-12.30 p.m. The Owl Service. 6.45-7.35 Hyd A Lled.

SCOTTIS

1NCan.A 6.10News. 6.15 London. 5.15 Cowboy News. Tarzan. Wheel Of Weather. Fortune, 6.45 London. 8.10 'The Proud Show. Profane' William 7.30 Satu and Holden Deborah Kerr. 10.00 10.00 We News, Weather. 10.15 Saturday Night day Nigh Theatre. 11.10 Court Martial. 12.10 Tennent a.m. Reflection. ATV MIDLANDS: 12 noon All Our

GRAMPI

Yesterdays. 12.25 Captain Scarlet. 12.55 Lo: 12.55 London. 55 m Tarzan. 6.10 News. 6.10 New 6.15 Parkin's 6.45 London. Patch. Results. 3.10 Feature Film: 'No Time To Die' London. Victor with Mature. Leo Genn and 'Separate Aheatre. Newley spy; Weathe.

Anthony 10.00 News. 10.15 10.00 Theatre. es there ate as our cored en er the National utish the scottisn onthe 300 the French had representatives cliamer 3,000,000 workers presen This is some of the ve mero Vi letters from

WORKERS' PRESS

The purpose of our 'Stop Washington' campaign is a establish a relationship bet class policies and working Vietnam war. Below: My Lai Vietnam pointing out how our political and material support is valued. We have had unity b'other meetings with our organizations in Vietnam as well as representatives from the DRV and the NLF. We are sure that these experiences will help you and your members and readers of 'Keep Left' to help the Medical Aid Campaign. The address is: P.O. Box 100, 36 Wellington Street, London, W.C. 2. As you point out we are of calling for an extension worker's holidays. The more people who stay away from work on January 1 the sooner employers will have to make New Year's Day a holiday.

We believe that the strike weapon should be used by the workers for both political and But as economic ends. you know the ground work must be thoroughly laid before such action is in taken otherwise it is , no more than hot air. For example when a token strike was called for February 27 this year against Barbara Castle's anti-trade union laws, in the work places where the work had to be done there was a great response to this political strike with 150,000 workers participating. On May 1 again this year the Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions called another strike with three quarters of a million workers out and magnificent demon- magnificent stration after demonstration all over the country. The newspapers were shut down in London, 20,000 workers marched through the City. Again another political forced strike an emergency TUC and the government to drop its laws in that form.

More recently the appren- tices on the Clyde did the groundwork, and the majority of factories and shipyards apprentices pledged to come out if they did not get the five year apprenticeship cut down to four years. The employers were forced to concede now with every young engineer this benefit. So our comrades have quite gained from experience an being rooted in the working class. We would consider that it would be difficult at this stage, to get a strike to 'Stop Wilson going to Washington' as you propose. Therefore : (i) It is premature (but if you do have success with your call' we would be glad to hear the list of factories you bring out). (ii) Whether Wilson goes to Washington or not is not the ider that wis we would be pleased to hear how you are going to stop him and what • of our 'Stop Wilson's Visit to campaign is an opportunity to relationship between Wilson's anti- ss policies and opposition to the r. Below: My Lai and Wilson.

methods you are going to use.

The real issue at this time is what Wilson is forced to say whether he is in Downing Street or the White House.

We find it a little difficult to comprehend your call for 'unity'. Gerry Healy said in February 1969: 'When we talk of unity with opponent an organization it is to get rid of that organization, we are in arms against you.... Therefore we are not sure if you are still connected with Healy's Socialist Labour League or whether he had re- tracted that statement or if there has been a complete reversal of policy. The of the National Committee Young Communist League is the elected leadership of the YCL that body will meet in February 1970 and your letter will be placed before them.

with best wishes, yours fraternally, Barney Davis, National Secretary. Young members of a Vietnamese village 'self- defence unit' are given instruction in their continuing struggle for self- determination against American imperialism. Sheila Torrance the Vietnamese workers December 31, 1969 you for your letter Thank of December 18, 1969. To judge from your conclud- ing remarks it seems to us misread our that you have our letter. We did not propose a 'call' to bring out factories on strike. This, in fact, was what we said: 'We believe that your de- mand for a "holiday" on jan- uary 1 should be politically broadened by an appeal for workers to strike on January 1 as a protest against Wilson visiting Nixon. "The National Committee of of the Young Socialists there- fore proposes a joint campaign along these lines to the Young Communist League' As you can see we proposed a joint campaign of the YS and the YCL for securing indus- trial action. We made no 'call' to any factory. Before we deal with the numerous distractions and dis- tortions which fill up the major part of your reply, we should like to comment on your attitude to the campaign against Wilson's visit to Wash- ington. You refuse to support our campaign to link the Wilson visit with the domestic and foreign issues facing the work- ing class because as you state explicitly : "The basis for our campaigns have always been on the prin- ciple that we do what our Vietnamese comrades want us to do.' We think that this is a reactionary dangerous and 'principle' to base any policy of solidarity on, because it pre-supposes that anything the NFL leaders think is good for them is automatically good for the British working class.

Must we remind you that the same criterion applied in the early years of the CPGB and the YCL in relation to the defence of the USSR was the principal cause for the re- formist degeneration of these organizations-and the aban- proletarian inter- doning of nationalism. If today you find it so easy to do 'what the Vietnamese comrades ask you to do' it is only because in the past you were trained to do only what the 'Soviet comrades' asked you to do. policy of uncritical This submission not only led your predecessors in the YCL, like Gollan and Monty Johnstone, and Jimmy Reid to defend and justify the countless crimes and 'Comrade betrayals of Stalin' , such as the Moscow Trials, Third Period adventur- ism and Popular Frontism, but, even worse, it alienated large numbers of workers and intellectuals from the cause of communism. of The massive exodus Party and YCL members after the 20th Congress (and even Betty Reid will agree that none of them were infiltrators and spies) and the continued decline of YCL and CP mem- bership is but one of the con- sequences of this reactionary and disastrous policy. Let us explain this a bit further. Unlike you Stalinists, we do not consider the de- fence of any workers' struggle, whether it be a strike or re- volution, as an end in itself.

To us the defence. of the Vietnamese revolution, like the defence of the Soviet Union against imperialism, is a tacti- cal task subordinate to the general strategy of the world revolution. If at any time the policies of the leadership of any workers' state comes into conflict with this strategy we do not hesitate to criticize it and even de- nounce it in public. As the Stalin-Hitler Pact, and the purge which preceded it proved, the methods of defence employed by the Soviet bureaucracy do not co- incide historical with the interests of the Soviet working class. Far from strengthening the nationalized property estab- lished by the October Revolu- tion, these methods under- mined it considerably. of the The best defenders Soviet state, paradoxically, are its most ruthless and principled critics—the Trotskyists. The defence of the Vietnam- ese Revolution as well as the

USSR

demands of all revolu- tionaries that they prosecute the class struggle against their own capitalists and landlords uncompromisingly. But here we must part com- pany with the YCL for the simple reason that the NLF nowhere and at no time calls on the British working class to fight Wilson and the British bourgeoisie. The policy of the NLF and the Provisional Revolutionary Government-with which you agree completely-does in fact call for a 'neutral South Viet- nam'. Neutral between what whom? An independent and Vietnam could never be neutral in the struggle between im- perialism and the working class. 'Neutrality'-and this is not to deprecate the heroism and tenacity of the NLF-is an- other formula for 'peaceful co- existence' with world imperial- ism. with the Our differences 'Vietnamese comrades' do not to incidental merely relate tactical questions. As you know the NLF leaders condone the murder of the Vietnamese Trotskyists by the late Ho Chi Minh's agents in the period after the Saigon uprising of 1946. The Trotskyists such as Ta Thu Thau were assassinated fought for un- because they conditional independence and opposed the 1947 compromise which included Vietnam within the French Union. Our support for the Viet- namese Revolution is a vigor- ous as any and more principled than most, but we do not Saturday, January 3, 1970 ignore the Stalinist heritage of the NLF. A clear example of how this policy and tradition of the NLF militates against the interests of the world working class is shown in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Even you, Mr Davis, will agree that the Soviet occupa- tion was wholly reactionary and a crime against socialism.

If you agree-then how do you reconcile this with your complete support of the NLF which in the interests of a spurious 'neutrality' supports the Soviet invasion? There is no contradiction between this aspect of NLF policy and the collection of however medical aid-which, worthy its aims are, remains an exercise in condescending charity and does not commit its sponsors to any struggle against Wilson and the British imperialists. Is it for this reason that you omit, significantly, to tell us about the subsequent fate of the blood that was donated to the Committee? intervention of After the David Frost and in order to maintain an unprincipled alli- ance with the liberals and anti- the Committee communists, agreed in 1967 to distribute the blood 'impartially' between the victims of imperialism and counter-revolutionary the forces in South Vietnam! There's for philanthropy you, Mr Davis! Isn't it a good thing it was only blood and not bullets!

Do not think that the YS is opposed to the donation of or money to the anti- blood imperialist cause but, we insist, a campaign must form such an integral part of the strug- gle of the metropolitan . work- ing class to overthrow imperi- alism in its citadel. From this standpoint the policy of the YCL is indefen- sible. Despite the impressive in- ventory produced by you and the thousands of signatures on your petition, not to mention exaggerated figure 100,000 who marched on Octo- ber 27, the policy of the YCL in relation to Vietnam, because of its adherence to 'peaceful co-existence'. , remains a mix- ture of sterile reformism and demagogy. omissions in Your this respect are truly monstrous.

You do not mention the forma- tion of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign despite the fact that the YCL collaborated at later stage with this revisionist parody. Why not? Was it because the YCL and the CP repre- sentatives were expelled at its inception for refusing to sup- port the demand for 'Victory the NLF' as opposed to to 'Peace by negotiation'? We too broke from the VSC, but for entirely opposite reasons, namely, for refusing to surrender our right to criticize the policy of the Kremlin vis- a-vis the Vietnam war. It is a well known fact that the YCL only rejoined the VSC after the VSC leadership deci- ded, quite arbitrarily, to drop criticism of Stalinism and convert the VSC into a 'single- issue non-exclusionary' band- wagon. If today you can speak of the VSC only in a retrospec- tive sense it is due entirely to your brand of politics which dominated the campaign-even though the YCL tried to avoid the violent and adventuristic manifestations of the move- ment. The extremely short life of the campaign and its failure to single one of its achieve a objectives is surely worth an investigation. Why is this? It is not pos- sible within the compass of this reply to answer fully and exhaustively the issues raised by VSC, but let us state, at least, that it failed because it was a pacifist-reformist protest movement based almost exclu- sively upon the petty-bourgeoi- sie. It was pacifist because its sponsors believed that imperi- alism and militarism were separate issues and that the revolutionary overthrow of imperialism by the working class led by a revolutionary party was not an indispensable precondition for world peace.

In other words, the task was not to construct a revolution- ary leadership to overthrow US perialism, but rather to achieve opinion a consensus sit-ins, teach-ins, means of parades, petitions and meet- ines and hope that the imper- ialist rulers would be suffi- ciently impressed to stop bombing and withdraw the troops. It was no different in pur- pose from the bankrupt cam- paigns conducted around the 'Stockholm Peace Petition' for general and universal disarma- ment by the Stalinists in the ing of 1950s. There is evidence to believe that the same people who helped organize that charade were also present, in the form of the British Peace Council, in this one as well. As the French say: The more things change, the more they remain the same. Your policy, Mr Davis, is completely opposed to the pro- gramme of Lenin and the Bol-

Saturday, January 3, 1970 sheviks which states: ... the watchwords of paci- fism, international disarma- under capitalism, the ment founding of courts of arbitra- tion [read

UNO]

etc., are something worse than reaction- Utopianism; ary they are direct fraud upon the workers, aiming at the disarmament of the proletariat and at diverting it from the task of disarming the exploiters. 'Nothing but the proletarian, the communist revolution can lead humanity out of the blind alley in which it has been placed by imperialism and im- perialist wars.' (Programme of the Communist Party of Rus- sia, adopted at the 8th Party Congress, 1919) March, The VSC, we say, was re- formist because it did not at stage counterpose to Wilson and the Labour 'lefts' an alternative revolutionary programme and leadership.

Such would have helped in sect sections of win the working class from the re- formists and laid the basis for between real unity workers The reformist policies of the YCL, as expre and students against the achieved absolutely nothing. Far from the l Wil- casualities on both sides have reduced the son government's foreign and domestic policy. time as a noisy and bloodless farce which marked the term- By turning its back on the inal point of the protest move- working class and revolution- ment in the 1960s. theory and indulging the ary There can be no return to reactionary, nihilistic preju- this era for the simple reason dices of the middle-class stu- that the of the emergence dents, the VSC doomed itself working class on the historical to a short and impotent exist- arena has blocked all the exits for the romantic and idealist ence The VSC and the October commune builders. 27 demonstration in particular The failure and impotence of the swan of petty- was song the protest movement not only bourgeois radicalism in West- the exposes bankruptcy of ern Europe and Japan. middle-class politics and the The operational middle-class indifference to the assumption of all the student radical move- theory of scientific socialism, it ments led by Rudi Duetschke underlines also - and very Germany, in Cohn-Bendit in strongly- -the unalterable truth France, Tariq Ali in the UK, of Marx's declaration the the Zengakuren in Japan 'Manifesto': 'Of all the classes was the that capitalism that stand face to face with the could be reformed and that the bourgeoisie today, the prole- petty-bourgeois, i.e. students, tariat alone is a really revolu- were destined lead to the tionary class.' working class. If VSC is a bankrupt the The YS quite correctly re- organization, the Medical Aid IN typical Stalinist fashion, Davis and the YCL try to conceal the counter-revolutionary character of British social demo- cracy with their theory of 'pressure'.

This view is completely contrary to Lenin's scientific analysis of the origins and growth of this malignant cancer within the workers' movement in the epoch of imperialism.

Lenin, in his preface to the French and German edition of 'Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism' (1920), antici- pated the sophistry of Davis by 50 years.

Referring to the international split of the labour move- ment between Bolshevism and social-democratic reformism, Lenin explained this division as a consequence of the "para- sitism and decay capitalism of which are characteristic features of its highest historical stage of development, i.e. imperialism. • • capitalism has now brought out to the front a handful of very rich and very powerful states which plunder the whole world simply by "clipping coupons"..

"Obviously, out of such enormous super-profits... it is fused to participate in this for Vietnam Committee is Philistine vulgar, masquerade, thoroughly discredited one.

It not because we were habitual is surprising that you should abstentionists, but because we speak of it so boastfully when were not prepared to deceive its secretary, John Rankin MP, working ourselves and the can cynically and publicly class about the real nature of betray its objectives by voting class society and the prospects in parliament against the before us. motion of the Labour 'lefts' to This is not a new problem withdraw troops from Vietnam for Marxists. Marx himself and disassociate Labour from made some very pertinent ob- Nixon. servations regarding the Cohn- He did this after he signed Bendits and Tariq Alis of 1848 the early-day motion spon- and 1851-the period of the sored by the "lefts' on Viet- second French Revolution- nam. which was aborted after the Such persons are the invet- coming to power of Louis erate enemies of the colonial Bonaparte. peoples and must be fought Referring to the petty-bour- and exposed in the labour geoisie and their zeal to What do movement. you pro- revolutionize Marx society, pose to do about it, Mr Davis?

commented with acid disdain: Your reference to involving However different the the working class on the Viet- means proposed for the attain- nam issue is confusing -to say ment of this end may be, how- the least. Surely the task of ever much it may be trimmed Marxists is not to 'involve' the with more or less revolutionary wusades int lobbies and citi- the notions, content remains crusade of lobbies peti- the same. tions, but to establish the inde- "This content is the transfor- pendence of the working class mation of society in a demo- from its treacherous middle- cractic way, but a transforma- class 'allies' through the strug- tion within the bounds of the for a revolutionary petty-bourgeoisie. 'Only one must not form the narrow-minded notion that the

B.B.C.-1

petty-bourgeoisie, on principle, wishes to enforce an egotistic class interest. Rather, it believes that the special condi- 9.00-9.30 a.m. Nai Zindagi-Naya tions of its emancipation 11.00-11.30 Seeing and jeevan. the general conditions within Believing. 1.25-1.50 Farm- o.m. the frame of which alone ing. 2.00 The Education Pro- gramme: The Minister of Educa- modern society can be saved tion and the class struggle avoided.

answers parents' questions. 2.29 Headlines. A Just as little must one imagine News 2.30 Film For The Family: 'Goodbye that the democratic representa- My Lady'. 4.00 Billy Smart tives are indeed all shopkeep- Circus For Children. 5.00 Holi- ers or enthusiastic champions day '70. 5.30 Ivanhoe : new of shopkeepers. series. 5.55 Clangers. 6.05 News and Weather. 6.15 Religion In The Sixties.

'According to their educa- 6.50 Songs Of Praise. tion and their individual posi- 7.25 Paul Temple. tion they may be as far apart 8.15 The Sunday Musical: as heaven from earth. What With A Song In My makes them representatives of Heart' the petty-bourgeoisie is the With Susan Hayward. The fact that in their minds they life of singer Jane story do not get beyond the limits Froman. which the latter do not, get beyond in life, that they are

B.B.C.-2

consequently driven, theoreti- cally, the same problems to and solutions to which material interests and social 5.15-6.15 Time Machines: p.m. position drive the latter practi- New series. cally. 7.00 News Review The quote from Marx is bril- Weather. liantly prophetic. would 7.25 The Incredible Humming- wish only to make a minor The Incredible reservation on it: whereas in birds. 1848 history repeated itself as 8.15 Music Now. a lurid tragedy, in 1968 how- 9.15 Yesterday's Witness: ever, it repeated itself a second

WORKERS' PRE

-' i clim bega turn the of C erly nam dran remi on f A achi Inve num -th prac desir Star' edito the 1 and dem gove the US 1 W every the s with as tl the le YCL, as expressed on this banner on the October 27 1968 VSC march, have Dowi , Far from the Paris talks succeeding since the bombing stopped, rising veno! ave reduced the talks to a farce.

marc dema ish gramme expressing the inter- tion, the CP, to harness the get ests and solidarity of the Viet- Anglican Church to the cause chans namese and British workers?

of anti-colonialism. This reac- Yo Workers were also 'involved' tionary and medieval institu- chang October But in whose tion has never failed to support C on politics prevailed? Let us quote every imperialist war in history time. one example. and sanctified (together not c There were many banners on with the 'Daily Worker' and since that demonstration calling for the CP the dropping of the that victory to the NLF and AEF.

atomic bomb on Nagasaki and gover (The AEF was still negotiating Hiroshima. ing th £2 wage Yet the the demand.) 'Morning Star' on Th In our opinion this the eve of the rally invoked was that i dangerous nonsense because it the authority of the Arch- in Br equated the revolutionary bishop of Canterbury in order Haro of struggle the Vietnamese to legitimize the march in the from people with the reactionary in- eyes of an apprehensive middle Th trigues of the AEF leadership class. camp which in the end sold out Immediately under the head- visit the wage demand, as well as line "All is set for a great rally' Fir ¡ the demand for equal pay, and came the paragraph in bold 12 to po opened the door to the intro- point letters: 'As preparations polic duction of productivity deals went ahead yesterday for on tl throughout the engineering in- great united demonstration in lible dustry. The same leadership- London tomorrow against the which which organization still Vietnam war, the Archbishop yOul to im supports, commends-a of Canterbury called all nay on Th paign the l trade intell link Vietn deter quite possible to bribe the labour leaders and the upper gle fo stratum of the labour aristocracy. And the capitalists of the "advanced" countries are bribing them; they bribe them in a thousand different ways, direct and indirect overt the covert.

We "This stratum of the "labour aristocracy" serves as the principal bulwark of the Second International and organ with the principal social (not military) support of the bour- geoisie. imper •. In the civil war between the proletariat and the the E bourgeoisie they inevitably, and in no small number, stand "Versaillese" Labor side side with the bourgeoisie, with the against the "Communards" ' (Emphasis in original).

the worki And Lenin adds this trenchant reminder : vices, 'Not the slightest progress can be made towards the lation solution of the practical problems of the communist movement union and of the impending social revolution unless the economic It roots of this phenomenon are understood and unless its of po political and sociological significance is appreciated. ' the v mano raged few months later sold out the class concerned to make the rally like Ford workers their fight peaceful and successful (sic) t in by do against penalties and in the Is it not possible to organize of ble betrayed the fight summer anything without seeking the Un against the anti-union laws by of moral sanction an estab- limit agreeing to the Trojan Horse lishment personage? proposals of the TUC. recall a single in- 'endir Can we the V Nobody in the leadership of stance of Lenin and the Bol- the anti-Vietnam secur move- sheviks trying solicit the first ment, least of all you as far patronage of the Metropolitan we recall, had anything Patriarch or other church dig- the worke critical to say in relation nitary? the V this. The policy of the YCL on Thi The workers were involved' October 27 was largely devoted Mr Davis, done only that they might to one issue which was sum- be so easily 'conned' at a later med up on the banner of one showi date! delegates: of 'Stop the on your Another virtuoso of 'disso- bombing for Paris peace talks policy ciation', Lawrence Daly, to succeed'. cal supi ported the Campaign and the This was a reference to the ackno War Crimes Tribunal as stren- bombing of North Vietnam. a para uously as any Labour 'left' Shortly after October 27 John- servin could. US in son, it appears, got the message You and the revisionists and the bombing of Tho stopped obligingly him lent the plat- North Vietnam. dence form so that he could enhance But did the talks succeed give t his reputation as a 'left' leader Mr Davis? Did they? In ialism fact in the

NUM

and more easily You not a single problem has been the Wilson retreat on great miners' settled, apart from the shape strike in the autumn. of the conference table and the war is What was even more politi- distribution of the delegates.

stract cally reprehensible about Octo- Not one problem we repeat.

pelled ber 27 was the efforts of the The paradox sion o grim is that YCL and your parent organiza- casualties on both sides have By :

REC

CHANNI

10.05 News and Weather. • 2:1 10.15 Omnibus: Fleming, Ian creator of James Bond myth. 11.15 Monty Python's Flying Circus. 11.45 Weatherman. Weather. BBC-1 except at the egiol llowine time 11.00 a.m. Church Service. 12.15 Sunday Session : and East Anglia: 11.47 p.m.

p.m. Midlands Katie Stewart Cooks. 12.40 Weather North England, West: South Taste and Stvle. 1.05-1.30 You 11.47 P.25- Weather. and Your Child. 1.50 Doctor On ane Wales Farming. 2.30- Call. 2.15 Face The Press: Brian 2.55-3.20 Rugby 20-3 The Clough. 2.45 Sports Arena. 3.15 1.40- Cadu 6.50-7.23 Dechrau The Big Match. 4,15 The Owl Dechrau Golden Service. 4.45 The Shot. Scotland: 30-11.00 Morning 5.30 Julia. Sunday Von Herbert Karajan about his and 6.00 News. WOrK Northern Ireland: Farm. 1=48 Weather. News 6.15 Friends and Neighbours.

WESTW

following 6.35 Seven Days. • 0r Weather. 7.25 Frost On Sunday.

HARLEC

8.25 'Ice Palace' P.Os- DO Richard With Burton New 'The Battle Carolyn Survival Robert Ryan, of Cable Street'. Jones and Martha Hyer. 10.00 'Morning Story': Sandon Montague Play with Lee 10.10 News. and written by Alan Rees.

10.20 "Ice Palace' continued.

10.20 Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. 11.05 Tonight With David desperati 11.10 News Summary. Nixon. 11.15 Line-Up. 11.50 Outlook '70. Weather. e talks from the US bankers to save • have British capitalism and sterling which from ruin over the last five years, Wilson has tied himself gnation and the British economy irre- • prop- • Viet- vocably to the chariot wheels of US imperialism. with- ed we Through the payment of going huge sums of interest on these loans the British working class ears. is being forced to finance, quite ber 27 ere in substantially, the operation of • the the US murder machine in arched Vietnam. Therefore to 'end British hieved complicity' means to national- lat was ize the banking system without lorning compensation and stop, im- in its mediately, the payment of interest on US loans. ded is We can rement assure you that Wilson would rather die than united cherish such a prospect. ge the Do we need to remind you • end of Lenin's epochal struggle to et the win the European working class from the political prede- u got nge in cessors of Wilson? To support Wilson's policies and a 1! Yet, or to repose any confidence in his government is to betray stated, everything for which Lenin • past Gros- stood. Our task is not to criticize t the Wilson in order to support : their him, but to organize an out- e Brit- er 'to right opposition to his laws and policies. ent to That is why we support the meth ly to policy other have ike it itting ge the narch- 27 is ialism

'SUBSISTENCE ECO-

1vince NOMY' plays a minor ›ciate' role in the basic econo- to the mics of Africa. ison's The centre of the mass of 1 like the economy in all African ot our countries is neither peasant n only production, nor local bour- infal- geois production, which is Iccess, seems negligible, but production in mines, plantations and linked cam- fields owned and controlled nvince ber of by capitalists in Britain, s and western Europe and United sity to f the States. self- The property relations of strug- Africa may be described as in. follows: 99 per cent of the people of Africa own nothing but their own labour power, while the main means of pro- • the duction are in the hands of e war British foreign imperialism, both riving private and state. d the In the imperialist countries there is much talk about the attack f the "trade gap'. The aim of this propaganda 1 ser- legis- is to compel the workers in these countries to swell the trade profits of the capitalists by wages down in the paign driving 'national interest'. within The fact is that Britain, for not a • out- example, has had a trade gap for a iddle- century, during which time this crisis has rarely been would out of the news. ences pints And the fact is that there never really has been a trade gap, i.e. an excess of the value • not the imported ly to over value ty in exported. The reason for this has en to always been simple, just as it it is has always been , tear carefully hidden by Labour and Tory rs of from governments alike. The reason is that Britain rship. be exports not only commodities t but also vast quantities ready of capital, which are counted as ssure his exports, from the value point of view. oliti- In reality this export is not the ive of a loss, but a means of obtain- ing profit. cracy Secondly, nglo- the import on side, are the invisible imports, which have seldom failed to confi- balance or more than balance ically the trade figures. прет- The most profitable areas of investment of that the exported capital have always been and tnam still are in Africa, Asia and r ab- and 'Latin' America. dis- It was this which formed a rsua- main reason why Lenin, in his book Imperialism', stated that loans •V. 12.15- Harlech (Wales) as above except: r On 5.30-6.00 p.m. Testun Trafod.

Star ¡entle ANGLIA: 11.00 a.m. London. 12.15 Dirk D.Mo London. 1.05-1.30 100 Years Sunday Session: Doctor On Call. abeth At days. Owl School. 1.55 Weather Trends. 2.00 Farming Diary. 2.30 The Baron.

3.25 annel 4.45 Parkin's 3.55 Match Film: Patch. Of The Sean Week. 4.45 London. 5.30 The Owl "The Service followed range by Weather. 6.00 11.20 London. 7.25 "The Tunnel Of Love with Doris Day 9.10 Strange Report. Richard Widmark ogue, and Gig Young. 10.20 Frost On Sunday. 10.10 London. p.m. 11.20 To. Men Who Matter. With David Nixon. ional 12.05 a.m. Ses- ndon. ATV MIDLANDS: 11.00 a.m. London.

1 Our Cannonball. 2.15 Star Soccer.

3.25 1.45 p.m. 2.25 3.15 *Look You Love' •Before with 4.05 Margaret Lockwood, Griffith Jones, thern Norman Wooland and Phyllis Stanley. Owl 4.45 London. 5.30 The Forest Rangers.

Thief. 7.25 6.00 London. 7.25 Feature Film: "Just 8.25 You' Bing For with Crosby, Jane For Wyman and Ethel Barrymore. 9.10 Sylva Strange News. Report. 10.10 10.20 gets Frost. 11.20 David Nixon, Weather. love 100 rost. ULSTER: 12.15 p.m. Doctor On Call. ather 12.40 London. 1.05-1.30 100 Years 2.15 At las. School. 2.20 The Baron. 3.15 London.

ot at 5.30 Captain 6.00 London. Jack don Star Movie: 7.25 Peyton Place. 12 essica' with Angie Dickinson. Mauric a.m. hevalier and Noel Noel. 10.10 Landor 10.20 Frost On Sunday. 11.20 Tonight With David Nixon. 12.15 don. 2.00

YORKSHIRE:

11.00 London. 2.55 12.15 p.m. Doctor On 12.40 4.45 London. 1.05-1.30 100 Years At School.

1.45 All Our Yesterdayshyllis 2.15 Soccer. 6.00 8.20 3.15 'Mandy' with Calvert. Sail' Terence Morgan, Mandy Miller and man. Jack Hawkins. Parents learn that their child deaf. 5.00 Woobinda. other is 5.30 6.00 London. 7.25 face The Owl Service. New Hawaii Five-O. 8.20 "Autumn Leaves' 11.20 with Joan Milesord Cliff Robertson News. spinster rince and Vera Miles. lonely 11.50 marries a younger man. 10.10 London.

10.20 Frost On Sunday. 11.20 Tonight vote of Mr Norwood MP against the reactivation of Part Two of the Prices and Incomes Act-while your organization remains inscrutably silent or supports the cowardly, unprin- cipled abstainers who prefer to see the working class betrayed and destroyed, as the German working class was in the 1930s, rather than fight Wil- son. Do you think that this policy of crawling before Wil- son will deter the Tories from returning to power in the near future? Of course not! More and more, as the crisis worsens and the struggle escal- ates, it becomes very clear that all those, like yoursell, who refuse to fight for a socialist alternative to Wilson are open- ing the door to the return of the Tories under Powell. For these reasons we reject as worthless, contemptible and utterly reformist your state- ment that 'the real issue at this time is what Wilson is forced (!) to say whether he is in Downing Street or the White House'. As we have pointed out many times, your campaign of pressure in the past has pro- duced precious little to com- mend it. Your insistence on this method now is somewhat the essential criterion of im- perialism was the export of capital. Thus the deficit in the trade figures hide a basic element of imperialism, the export of cap- ital to so-called under- developed countries, i.e. the economic colonies which im- perialism 'underdevelops' by means of the way in which the capital is employed - a question we hope to look at often. On the import side, the in- visible earnings whose non- appearance in trade figures regularly produce a deficit out a surplus, consist fun- damentally of super-profits out of the economic wrung colonies in Africa and else- where. These invisible earnings con- sist of dividends on invest- ments, of banking 'services' , of insurance and commercial 'services' and of the vast shipping business directly con- nected with imperialism. A hundred years ago foreign trade figures for Britain showed a visible trade gap of about £80 million a year, on average.

"At this time the invisible in- come amounted to £30 million from investments directly and £90 millions from the asso- ciated 'services' of these in- vestments. And this did not take into account the export of capital in those days. There was, therefore, a 'healthy' surplus in the foreign trade figures.

The two imperialist wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 caused Britain to lose £1 bil- lion of foreign investments, either in war destruction or to her rivals, especially the United States. In addition, two-thirds of Britain's huge merchant marine was sunk. (So much for those who, like Ernest Mandel talk of a 'rise' capitalism. They in forget trivia like two world wars, which are an essential feature of imperialism, as the epoch of decline of capitalism.) Due to the betrayal of the workers' revolutionary move- ment during and after the war by social democracy, Stalinism in the imperialist states and by both plus petty-bourgeois nationalism in the colonies and semi - colonies, imperialism patched itself up after the war.

The merchant navy of David Nixon. 12.05 a.m. Late Weather. GRANADA: 11.00 a.m.-12 noon Morn- Service. 12.40 London. 1.00 100 Years At School. 1.25 All Our Yester- 1.55 The Secret Service. 2.25 2.55 Football. 3.50 The Saint. 4.45 London. 5.30 The Owl Service. 6.00 London. 7.25 The Big Picture: Seventh Dawn' with William Holden and Capucine. Malaya in 1953.

9.40 The Felony Squad. 10.10 London. 10.20 Frost On Sunday. 11.20 Tonight With David Nixon.

TYNE TEES:

11.00 a.m. London. All Our Yesterdays. 12.40 12.15 p.m. Play With A Purpose. 1.05-1.30 Lon- don. 2.00 Farming Outlook. 2.30 Shoot.

Matinee: 'Ha' penny Breeze'. 4.45 5.30 The Owl Service. 6.00 News. 6.15 Gladsome 7.25 It Takes A 8.25 Film *Moment Of Danger': 10.10 News. 10.20 Frost. David Nixon. 12.05 a.m. The Fishouses: A Poem. SCOTTISH: 12.15 p.m. Sunday Session: Doctor On Call. 12.40 London. 1.05 Years At School. 1.30 All Our Yesterdays. 2.00 Diane's Magic Theatre Mr Piper 2.45 London. 3.15 "Train Of Events' with Feature Film: Finch, Warner, Peter Valerie Hobson and John Clements. 4.45 London. 5.30 The Owl Service. 6.00 London. 7.55 Heroes. Bogart Festival: Of Sierra Madre' with Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt and Bruce Bennett. 10.10 London. 10.20 Frost Sunday. 11.20 Tonight With David Nixon. 12.05 a.m. Late Call.

Sion: Doctor 12 Call. 1240 Lon Son.

Sunday Ses- sion: Doctor On 1.05-1.30 100 Years Far Progress. 2.15 All Our 2.45 London. 3.10 Edgar Wallace Thriller Hour. 4.15 London. 5.30 The Double Life Of 6.00 6.15 London. 8.25 The Big Film: 'Sapphire'. News and Weather. 10.20 Frost. 11.20 Sunday Talks.

PAGE THREE

grotesque-even from your standpoint. You state that Wilson must be 'forced' to change. But Wilson, so far after five years, has proved intractable and since there is little likelihood he will change his mind in the next month, you still support his visit to Washington know- ing full well that he will sup- port Nixon! Do you hope that the pres- sure exerted in London will, for some inexplicable reason, work in Washington? Why? On the other hand, if you seriously stand for a policy of 'disassociation' then, don't you think, this provides a splendid opportunity to disassociate Wilson from Nixon? In conclusion we would like to state again the great urgency and importance of our cam - paign against 'Wilson's Visit to Washington'. Wilson has no moral or political right to represent British labour anywhere in the world. His visit has a most sinister purpose: to renew the alliance Anglo-US imperialism against the colonial and metro- politan workers as well as the USSR and China. Therefore it must be opposed. Sheila Torrance. example, Britain, for was raised to 22.5 million tons, compared with 17.4 million tons in 1939). Invisible imports carried by shipping alone rose from £90 million a year before the war to some ten times that amount Banking, insurance, tourism and commercial services made 'invisible' income an over £2 billion a year, some 12 times more than the nominal pre-war value (the actual in- crease was less, due to con- stant 'devaluation' of sterling, under American rivalry and pressure). Reliable figures of income from investments became harder to come by as the super-profits from the super- exploitation of Africa and other semi-colonial areas rose atter the war, especially in the 'independent' states. Direct dividend returns to the imperialists in Britain rose to over £l billion a year, not counting the re-investment of in the profits semi-colonial fields of investment. 1965 Britain's capital abroad was over £12 billions, including massive investments 'independent' Asia and Africa. The direct andindirect effects of these investments bring in an 'invisible was to income' of £2.5 billions by 1965 and some £3 billions at present. This income annually rescues the ruling class of Britain and at the same time gives it its regular pretext to cut wages in Britain. The truth is that the trade is 'balanced' by the working clas, taken internationally, and particularly in areas - like Africa. It is "balanced' by the super- exploitation of cheap labour throughout the whole length and breadth of Africa, Asia and 'Latin' America. The expansion in merchant shipping, for instance, is taken by people with Mandel's point "UP- of view to indicate an surge' of capitalism and 'new' forms of capitalism. If one looks at what the ships actually do, it is not only modern, but absurd. The vast number sailing down the West Coast of Africa and up its East Coast, for example, and back again; perform an ana- chronistic function, to put it mildly. For what are they doing? Tens of millions of tons of shipping are built and sail the Atlantic and Indian Oceans around Africa and look very modern, 'upsurging', even especially the multi-100,000 ton oil tankers. But have a look in their cargo holds and see how modern their function is.

For they are carrying minerals and raw materials taken out of Africa by British and other imperialist capital.

They systematically and literally strip and impoverish Africa of materials for indus- trialization. Then they come all the way back again, return- ing some of the materials as 'finished products', all the way back to where they would, under a modern system of pro- duction, otherwise have been processed. This is the picture of ship- ping on all the African lines, apart from the investors and tourists carried to see how their investments are 'working' and the products of the invest- ments, i.e. of the cheap labour making their investments super-profitable. It is not only a crazy and irrational picture of capitalist rationalization, but is a true mirror of the nature of im- perialism: the export of capital into fields of primary produc- tion in Africa.

PAGE FOUR

• FROM PAGE ONE

diction between the produc- tive forces developed under was a full 33 years That and capitalism the fetters ago. Socialism, Stalinism tells placed their further upon built in total iso- both by the cap- expansion lation from the rest of the italist mode of production world economy, without the and the bureaucratic restric- aid of the more advanced tion of socialist property countries and therefore with- relations to the most back- out using the advantages of ward areas of the world. the international division of labour. These two sets of contra- Yet Patolichev now says dictions now merge in the the following: both struggle capitalism Stalinism to and unify the 'There is no doubt what- European if economy without soever that agreement abolishing underlying the reached was on Guestions contradictions of the nation of collective security in of state and the dominance Europe, a favourable atmos- capitalism in the most eco- phere would also be created nomically and culturally ad- for mutually beneficial vanced regions of Europe.

the broadest operation on scale nations with among Both capitalism and Stalin- different social systems, for ism make their bid to unify the fuller use of the benefits the Europe Manne of the international division This was the stability. case of labour' (emphasis added).

'The Times' with it is SO For with the Soviet bureaucracy: more than " 40 years Soviet the Stalinists in the Union and elsewhere claimed Shades of 1914 that the Soviet economy had no need of this 'benefit', that socialism could in and 'Foreign trade, more than fact constructed within any other form of inter- Union purely on the Soviet national relations, depends the basis of its own national stability in international affairs. Its successful devel- firm and If this was indeed the opment depends on lasting peace, on a policy of why the call today case. peaceful co-existence'. for collaboration between 'nations of different social pre-1914 Shades of the systems'? What need can liberals! there be for the Soviet The pressure of the big Union to the harness European monopolies on the economies of countries Soviet economy is enormous.

which were allegedly sur- Until nationalised by social- passed in 1935 with the ist revolutions, they hold the final victory' of socialist distortions within the Soviet construction ? The Stalinists deliberately economy. confused the vital difference This is openly recognized between property relations by Patolichev: of building and the social- "The expansion of eco- ism. would nomic ties enable Total nationalization of various countries jointly to work out and implement big the economy not yet socialism, though it is an projects on a European scale, essential prerequisite. and 1n power, engineering transport. Transition 'Such projects include the big construction trans- continental oil and gas pipe- Socialism, as a higher lines, the creation of a single form of social, political, system of internal waterways cultural life linking European the economic and rivers, than capitalism, must surpass construction of big power capitalism in all these fields.

and the grids organization Until it does so, it is not yet of a unified European power socialism. is a society It in system. transition. All of this, we are assured, That remains the position without any way under- of the Soviet Union and mining challenging or cap- of East even more SO the italism in western Europe! European states ruled by the In the article makes fact, Stalinist bureaucracy. that the clear idea to strengthen, Like European weaken capitalism, not European capitalism: the Soviet bureaucracy • The economic, establishment of stantly feels the military and political good-neighbourly relations US imperialism, and between countries in western sure of compelled Europe to come to and eastern would possible terms with it. This is the also make it to meaning behind the follow- bring about a considerable the sphere of ing comment: expansion in scientific and technical co- of the 'In the conditions operation. This, in turn, continuing drive arms andi would accelerate the rate of tension in the world, the technical progress and would Soviet Union other and bring tangible advantages to socialist countries also states' added). compelled to all (emphasis spend The 'Izvestia' article then siderable amount of money by illustrates this point on defence. some examples of re- giving follows Then the points Soviet-capitalist collab- cent collective security and on oration: collaboration with 'Co-operation between the capitalism. France is USSR and devel- At the core of the Stalinist The oping successfully and Soviet - French capitalist crisis is the permanent almost overpowering contra- commission is doing a great

ORDER

NOW

Two editions Full subscription (Posted daily) (For any two days £10 a year O R you select) £2 10s. for three c4 a year £1 for three months months I would like to subscribe to Workers' Press for Name Address Post to: Circulation Organizer, Workers Press.

186a Clapham High Street, London, SW4. (Tel: 01-720-2000) deal to explore opportunities for expanding specialization in different branches of in- an international dustry at level and for extending trade ween estab- Numerous foreign contacts have lished with Italian firms too.

"The Italian Fiat concern is co-operating with Soviet organizations in the produc- tion of motor cars; Olivetti is co-operating in the field of and Montedison computers in the chemical industry.'

Fiat has, of course, been the of the main target Italian strike wave of re- cent months. Its boss Angeli, is an outspoken advocate of a tough, anti-working-class regime willing and able to impose a wage freeze on the militant Italian working class. Needless to say, Angeli's reactionary politics are anything but an obstacle when it comes to dealing with the Kremlin. After all, it was none other Khrushchev than who toasted the health of war criminal and em- ployer of Soviet slave labour, Alfred Krupp. The pressure of monopoly capital always makes itself felt on the bureaucracy in the end. Patolichev's article repre- sents an important new stage in the crisis of the Soviet bureaucracy. All the bluster and brag- ging of the Stalin era has now been dropped. Social- ism may have been built in 1935, it is saying, but to maintain it now we need the help of Fiat and Olivetti!

The productive forces and techniques developed under capitalism batter against the barriers of the nation state and private property with such force that even the cap- italists themselves are forced to seek adjustments to this pressure. the ruling So too are Stalinist bureaucracies, either, as in the case Rumania, through direct re- lations with imperialism in- dependent Soviet of the Union, or through the Soviet bloc economic organization Comecon. But the most acute expres- sion of this contradiction is to be found in the United States, where the same tech- nology that can conquer space is also being used to exterminate the entire popu- lation of South Vietnam. Relations * for The struggle a States of socialist United Europe therefore has to take into account not only the internal problems of Europe, and complex as they deep are, but the relationship of Europe, Soviet and the Union, to the United States.

This problem was con- stantly studied by the leaders the of early Communist International, and no more so than by Trotsky. In his criticism of the draft programme of the Communist International to its 6th Con- presented in 1928 (Trotsky had gress by this time been expelled from the Bolshevik Party and had been exiled to Alma Ata in Soviet Asia) Trotsky drew attention to the world nature of modern economy, and the dominant position that the United States held in it: *Linking up countries and continents that stand on different levels of develop- ment into a system of mutual dependence and antagonism, the levelling out various stages of their development and at the same time imme- diately enhancing the differ- between them, and ences ruthlessly counterposing one

• FROM PAGE ONE

ers, means 15s a ton more on house coal sold to the merchants and probably more than this for the house- wife. Unable Other coals, such as anthra- cite and Phurnacite, will go up by fl to 25s a ton. In some areas, mainly in the East Midlands, the cost of coal is already so high that the NCB has been un- able to raise the price by as much as 10 per cent for fear would buy it. that no-one Yesterday's increase, ex- pected to raise £65 million a year, was introduced on the pretext of preventing the NCB's deficit exceeding the statutory limit of £50 million.

Change National Union. of Mine- workers' are asking leaders for a meeting this month with the government to 'ask' for a policy change in over the Board's deficit. The coal industry is in fact £29 profitable, making mil- 1968/1969, but is in pulled into the red by crippl-

WORKERS' PRESS

Labour backslides THE LABOUR PARTY'S public relations men on have cone out of their way to present the government as a revolutionizing force in educa- At the Brighton comprehensive ference, Alice Bacon pledged legislation to force comprehensive on reluctant Tory local schools new authorities which stratey were, of course, obligingly campaign security confer- helped to power by the Fundamental NeW EA Labour government's anti- Publications, p. 12). working-class policies. By an education correspondent but a new survev on com• and continents prehensive re-organization Many adopt devious moons anotheral relation siderable headway in the tor this vear nuhlished hr the Comprehensive Schools retainin nt from its form that Stop Wilson only • Very hitle * face ard * taken

• FROM PAGE ONE

• pupils are adored here the seconqary-age compre y of the prob hensive, that many are far from now fully compre• plants also for a Tory return mensive and power? Press. This reta tant-unal pace these problems in en re-organization •Stowing Adapt "These utterances', the 6th-form colleges volutions' (p. 14). schools to war great comp -namely, peted to addie ration. of pos Wilson's policies on all fronts drive colleges'). Sharplyng to b the vi continuing U3 mp the, revision- mie nest as well for re-organization ty pressure Only two hands of he bier into the equivocal, e Till backing of Suly two new ones. Edward Short. China-Soviet Case sully authorities sish for rew indeed in regimes fascist border talks to Raised in 1915 anthropi 30-page report. ven den of ares even for Being te neW one for Trouss. not a organization. He first raised it in 1915: resume

THE

SOVIET - CHINA

no more one complete border talks are likely to Nasser resume soon with the re even Utopia recent turn to Peking yesterday Soviet, of which thes of Vasily Kuznetsov, head of the Soviet negotiating and Saltnist Brian Simon double-talk The ended. Deputy Foreign Minister leaders Kuznetsov has been in Mos oh the ained in sion Abstract principle ie few back with his as es both to the i the Pekin talks again has been elevated second-in-command stract to all men Chief of Staff of the Soviet

ALL TRADES

Doraer troops

UNIONS ALLIANCE

While it nas ADOPTING a militant stance during his visit

PUBLIC MEETING

KEEP LEFT. WEEKEND RALLY

Lessons of the Khartoum rally 60,000 of his government's maim or saling air cani not be in willingness to fight Israel.

1969 Ford Saturday and Sunday, January 10 and 11 By a foreign corresponden strike Panton or the socialist rel gun presented to him at Both neared 200 0, le i the forEmot and the fight the rally. wach took place foremost youth paper in o the cosy on Thursday night, he de- from. the labour movement today.

for parity clared d

KEEP LEFT INVITES ALL ITS READERS TO THE

see all the react deployed

BASILDON

vy e nave

ANNUAL GENERAL

men on the iron Wednesday, January 7 and we are proceeding 8 p.m. and Bread Pond build an army of one million

MEETING

The Bullseye Nasser rejected the 2.30 p.m. ist thre Saturday, January 10 Market Place East India Hall, East India Dock Road

WEATHER

London, E.14 nunuing to suppiy arms l Big power (For 24 hours from Friday Praise Young Socialist National Speaking Contest noon) Like all capitalist statesmen, praise for Natin the

DANCE IN THE EVENING

Midlands: Occane arms, but man, asser th East India Hall 8 p.m.-11 p.m. with frost. in the form Nasser The Crescendos nond the The Element of Truth Northern Special appearance neth imperialise ism and Zionin rain at first vot snow later.

LONG JOHN BALDRY

even more hypocritical

ATUA-YS

remark 8 p.m.-ll p.m. East India Hall

PUBLIC MEETINGS

-obviously a pathetic Stop Wilson's wind mode: Occasional Coal prices to go up westerly: (43F).

FILM MAKING AND THE

visit to mum SW England: Washington

YOUNG SOCIALISTS

uccasional ra Labour gs the ment attacks th Mind M

BIRKENHEAD

CLASSIC CINEMA, POND STREET

minesento ion nuthe Monday, January 5

HAMPSTEAD, LONDON, N.W.3

Maximum VC (45F) 8 p.m. or rain at he he bankersurder Observan Fo adre ch tot the

STOP WILSON'S WASHINGTON

Dits: pensatio. from former

VISIT!

OXFORD

White collar owners north- Tuesday, January 6 Maximum

FOR THE DEFEAT OF US

Unlikely 41F). Bright ospell of

• FROM PAGE ONE

7.30 p.m.

IMPERIALISM IN VIETNAM!

periods. One t Blackbird Leys period: tonight. Community Centre wester mode ataximum

DEMONSTRATION

And the off leaders (leading local unionist, Glasgow area: Snow showers

SUNDAY JAN. 11

sland Tonight Win - BE fresh Rather ASSEMBLE: Speakers' Corner (Marble Arch),

MANCHESTER

3,000 2 P.M. Tuesday, January 6, 8 p.m.

ours: Col

MARCH:

via Oxford Street, Regent Street, Trafalgar Square past Downing Street.

worked ith deter MEETING: Lyceum Ballroom, near Aldwych, Speaker: Bill Hunter 4 P.M. Change 1,000 Details from 186a Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4

OUT ALL

Tuesday, January 6, 8 p.m.

Rolls-Ro yo go Tickets for the whole weekend 12s 6d allowed Town Hall