Workers Press no. 696

workers press

US ECONOMY

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER

NIXON REFLATION FAILS

THE United States economy is being plunged deeper into economic crisis. On foreign markets the dollar continues to weaken and un- employment rises at home.

Yesterday a group of leading bankers and economists declared that capitalist President Nixon's reflationary policies had worked.

They also expressed deep reser- Among while more than a third of Black the youth the figure the international vations about Puerto Rican youth are out of work.

currency deal which was worked out Among workers the un- with lamiles, last December to try and bring a employment rate has doubled over the like Seattle, measure of stability to dollar dealing.

¡aerospace. Minnesola (steel have seen their basic industries shut down But, as we have pointed out many over their heads. times, the August 15 decision to end The unemployment in the US mounting dollar convertibility marked a watershed is a mirror for the rest of the capitalist world. capitalist relations. None of the in summit meetings-not the IMF, GATT, In BRITAIN, unemployment is now well Group of Ten nor the World Bank-have over tne ManK swollen une nation-wide lay-offs decreed by the Tories been able to shore up Nixon's dollar to meet the power crisis.

crisis. The US faces a huge recession.

In FRANCE, latest official figures show almost 500,000 out of work, and the number is expected to grow steadily over the next Slowdown

SIX MOREOS.

The same tendency can be seen in ITALY, GERMANY and JAPAN. he innuena rederal Keserve bank or St Louis, for example, in its latest report This is combined with enormous *a marked inflation of money, trends, says that economic forcing

ULL

CUD

sil intensity a episment in 197 growth* lowering living for workers or a reversar m money standards éverywhere. International trade is being hit result uncertainty the Thi to the paid for last years thetail have ze in the united States.

year's monetary oetween nanonal currencies. Production all the major centres of capitalism is falling. Similar warnings have come from the This situation springs from the breakdown American Business em- Counci Ene Die of the international monetary ployers' and from a number of system in the lemocratic economists. wake Or NIxonS August 1 measures.

une superficial euphoria which greeted the The US Treasury itself is trying to play Washington er 18 has to deed ee the dollar current 6 per down me sienmcance orEne December cent unemployment level and has dropped The has refused even gustined. its original target fbi gie oment discuss sales of gold from its depleted down and is

CCHE

reserves continuing its aggressive prescensa erecton. demands for Trace concessions Trom Ine rest of the capitalist world.

the highest The United States has unemployment figure any of The August 15 measures have done away Cine teading si capitalist countries, with with the whole basis of the post-war than million officially italist stabilization, based on the relationship

WORKCIS

Teasterce as ToDiess between me collar and gord.

GEC LOCK

OUT MEN

IN NINE-

MONTH

DISPUTE

See p.3 staff from A. Dene CEC Croydon, Surrey. of the -part

STUP

—picket outside the locked gates yesterday. Retail prices up THE official index figure which average measures chances in tue level of retail prices was 159.1 on January 1972. This com- with 158.0 pares December with 100.0 at the base-date, which January was 16, 1962. • WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 23, 1972 • No 696 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

FULL

DETAILS

OF YS

RIGHT-

SLUMPS

TO-WORK

CAMPAIGN

See p.4 This explains the Tory government's unemployment their attacks determination to drive down wages and WOrKerS basic unts increase prices, bringing the government The Nixon administration attempted into direct collision with the working class. reflation to beat inflationand failed.

Their stubborn Yet despite this obiect lesson attemDs co resist one

ITS CHE

miners' strike were broken by the solidarity Party Britain which is today LabouT and militancy of the working class. But the recommending the same remedy.

lories cannot let up in this struggle If a returned Labour government attempts They have no alternative but to continue this useless and treacherous tinkering with crushing workers strategy

TOT

resistance in order to meet the growing recession in the capitalist world.

INSIDE: Special four-page photo feature on Far from diminishing the British em- Nixon's war in Indo-China, taken from the plovers savagery. as the Stalinists and the recently released book shot anther reformist trade leaders claim the Phe book is puritished by CoSier Macmilar Jones Griffiths defeat they have suffered at the hands of the miners will intensify their drive at £1.25 Troops attack IRA funeral

FIGHTING

broke out blast the Aldershot two paratroopers and held yesterday between headquarters of the When he reached hor ers and British soldiers chute Regiment. butt at the back his funeral David Seven five neck. the people McAuley, the 14-year-old them the died in was

DECSS

cara ne

IRA

Provisional who blast kneed in the groin. Was accidentally (See full details p.12.) walle • Earlier Widgery news traini the boes reudy left p.3. boy's body

"DAILY

MAIL'

photo- home the Ardoyne grapher Jeff Morris told the of the Widgery tribunal Kennedy free

OUSENCE

traditional IRA salute was Coleraine, Ulster, yesterday, fired. une Irst shots ne neare on Immediately 'Bloody Sunday' • January

TTOODS

York, Reuter-All New Ho Fianna Birnest arrest Killed was pen le when 13 people rusned were passed i alman aboard hi- about Fianna jacked Data- Boeing (junior IRA) members. In trooper crouched beside jet airliner, in- the ensuing fight, troops him and fired twice. cluding Joseph Kennedy their batons on used When he tried to take 19-year-old son of the late and fired rubber nourners Senator picture of a soldier hitting Robert Kennedy ullets at then with have been released by their a mal a time Dura was thrown to the ground. hi-jackers in Aden, the

ARMY

AN padre, He fell next to another Mission of the Capt People's Don Weston, has paratrooper, who fired the seen Democrane KeDuoTe named the armi Yemen said yesterday. once

SHOTS.

killed in yesterday's bomb He had been seized by See hi-jack story p.12.

PICKET

IN OFFICIAL

PICKE

JOPUTE

workers press

US ECONOMY

A SLUMPS

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • WEDNESDAY F

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

THE United States economy is being plunged deeper into economic crisis. On foreign money markets the dollar continues to weaken and un- employment rises at home.

Yesterday a group of leading bankers and declared that none of capitalist economists President Nixon's reflationary policies had worked.

They also expressed deep reser- the youth the figure is 13 pe Among. international while more than a third of Black and vations about the cent. Puerto Rican youth are out of work.

currency deal which was worked out Among workers with families, the un- last December to try and bring a doubled over the past emplovment rate has year. space acid Bulkth like Seattle, Washington measure of stability to dollar dealing.

and Minnesota (aerospace) (steel) their basic industries shut down But, as we have pointed out many inve SeeI over their heads. the August 15 decision to end times, The unemployment in the US mounting dollar convertibility marked a watershed Is a mirror tor the rest of the canitalist world. None of the in capitalist relations. summit meetings—not the IMF, GATT, In BRITAIN, unemployment is now well Group of Ten nor the World Bank-have over the million nay-ofs decreed ollene Tores mark, swollen nation-wide been able to shore up Nixon's dollar to meet the power crisis. crisis. The US faces a huge recession.

In FRANCE, latest official figures show almost 500,000 out of work, and the number expected to grow steadily over the next Slowdown six months. The same tendency can be seen in ITALY,

GERMANY

and TAPAN. The influential Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, for example, in its latest report This is combined with an enormous 'a marked that inflation economic trends, says of forcing up Ult growth' living slowdown money lowering standards workers never n will intensify unemployment in 1972.

everywhere. International trade is being hit the price that will This, the bank says, is #incorinn une relationships between national currencies. have to be paid last yeal s Production in all the squeeze in the United States.

major capitalism is falling. Similar have come from the warnings This situation springs from the breakdown Council, the big one carousness i of the international monetary system in the ployers' association, and from a number of The Democratic economists. or NIxon s August 1> measures.

superficial which greeted the The US Treasury itself is trying to play Washington agreement to devalue the dollar down the significance of the current 6 per December has proved entirely un- level and has dropped cent unemployment justified. The US has refused even to Its original larget or bringing unemployment of gold discuss sales from by November down per the Coll reserves and is continuing its aggressive presidential election. demands for trade concessions from the rest of the capitalist world.

The United States has highest the figure the The August 15 measures have done away unemployment leading capitalist countries, with with the whole basis of the more post-war cap- italist stabilization, based on the relationship registered as jobless. between the dollar and gold.

Technical and supervisory staff from A. Croydon, Surrey-part of the group —picket outsice the locked gates yesterday. THE official index figure which measures changes in the average prices ever

OT TATA

was 129.1 on January 18, 1972. This com- with 158.0 December bole 14, 1971 and with 100.0 at the base-date, which was January 10, 1906. ESDAY FEBRUARY 23, 1972 • No 696 • 4p

MITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

This explains the Tory government's and their attacks unemployment determination to drive down' wages and workers' basic rights. Increase prices, bringing the government The Nixon administration attempted into direct collision with the working class. reflation to beat inflation-and failed.

stubborn attempts Yet despite this object lesson it is the strike were by the solidarity Britain and militancy of the working class. But the recommending the same remedy.

Tories cannot let up in this struggle.

If a returned Labour government attempts They have no alternative but to continue this useless treacherous tinkering with their capitalism, it will fail.

crushing.

MEO]

resistance in order to meet the growing recession in the capitalist world.

from diminishing recent mereased chiby savagery, as the Stalinists and the Philip Jones Griffiths on book is published by Collier Macmillan hanec "ne intensify

FIGHTING

broke out blast the Aldershot paratroopers and held hetween mourn- headquarters of the Para- against a wall with rifle westereov ers and raish soldiers chute Regiment. butt the back of his the funeral five David Seven people, of neck. When he reached for the 14-year-old them women, died in the his he McAuley, press card, was

IRA

Provisional who blast. was kneed in the groin. accidentally killed while (See full details p.12.) Earlier Widgery news traini ghen the republic t As the boy's body

'DAILY

MAIL'

the Ardoyne his home district of Belfast, the tribunal traditional IRA salute was the first shots he heard on Immediately troops 'Bloody Sunday' — January Reuter-All rushed New arrest 30, when 13 people were passengers about Fianna killed—was when a para- W German the en sing) members. trooper hecide Crouched ensuing fight, him and fired twice. cluding Joseph Kennedy, batons on

"CAG

thaIr When he tried to take a 19-year-old son of the late mourners and fired rubber picture of a soldier hitting Senator Robert Kennedy bullets at them. a man with a rifle butt, he have been released by thei was thrown to the ground. Aden, the AN ARMY padre, Capt He fell next People's anothe Weston, Don has been paratrooper, who fired the Democratic Republic of named as the army officer shots. Yemen said yesterday. killed in yesterday's bomt He had been seized by See hi-jack story p.12. Iftin

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Wednesday Febri

AROUND THE WORLD

CARWORKERS

IN A

CONTINUAL

CONFERENCE

AN ALFA-ROME

DISCUSSION IS

CARWORKERS at the prestige firm, Alfa Italian sportscar Romeo, are occupying their by holding a 'perma- factory ment meeting on the shop floor. When management refused to change the grading system workers months seven ago, started industrial action cost- ing the firm about one tenth of the year's production. Wages range from 40p per hour for unskilled men to 53p for skilled. In November groups of workers invaded the offices of including the management, that of the president, Giuseppe Luraghi, and general director, Adolfo Bardini, forcing them to take flight. 20,000 Two weeks ago, workers in the Milan-Portello and Arese factories began to Congo coup is foiled AN ATTEMPTED military coup against President Marien Ngou- abi in Congo-Brazzaville was foiled on Monday night, accord- ing to radio reports yesterday.

The radio did not say how the coup had been thwarted, nor did situation it explain the current in Brazzaville, capital of the territory in W former French Africa. It said the coup leader, army chief of staff Joachim Yhombi, was supported by 'right- wing tribalists'. The major had arrested some members of the ruling political party. President Ngouabi, a former officer in the Congo-Brazzaville's Elite Paratroop Battalion, came to power in 1968 after a military revolt. Oil sheikh replaced THE RULER of the oil-rich gulf state of Qatar was overthrown yesterday in an apparently blood- less coup while he was abroad on a hunting holiday. Radio said Sheikh reports Ahmed Bin Ali Al-Thani had been replaced by his cousin and the deputy ruler. The new ruler, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Thani immediately promised 20-per-cent pay rises for .... aday February 23, 1972

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

PRESIDENT NIXON is exp Peking this week that the Uni a permanent trade mission in (

FA-ROMEO PLANT WHERE A WORKERS'

USSION IS CONTINUALLY IN PROGRESS

occupy their factories. No one is allowed in or out without the permission of the voluntary workers' 'militia'. Verga, When Franco a Christian Democratic delegate 'solidarity tried to present a cheque, he was greeted with "an explosion of cries and whistles', according to one of the Italian newspapers. One Alfa worker com mented: •He can stuff it down his throat—we don't want charity!'

Meanwhile the Minister of Employment, Donat Cattin, has told the company: 'If produc- tion is technically and econo- mically unfeasible, then the firm must be closed down.

The state cannot be expected to stop money going to schools, hospitals or housing just to prop up a car company.' Bukovsky sentence confirmed THE RUSSIAN federal supreme court yesterday upheld sen- tence of seven years' imprison- ment and five years' exile passed on Soviet oppositionist Vladimir Bukovsky last month. court's The decision, which was taken after two hours of re- examination of the case, was reported by friends of the 29- year-old Bukovsky. charged with anti- He was Soviet agitation and propaganda.

His friends said yesterday that Academician Andrei Sakharov, a founder member of the unofficial Committee in Human Rights Moscow, was barred from the courtroom. gulf all members of the tiny state's armed forces and civil servants.

In a series of decrees, he also promised modernize the to administration. This is the second major up- heaval in the Gulf area in recent The ruler of Sharajah, weeks. another Gulf state, was killed during an attempted coup last month. is expected to announce in the United States will establish ion in China. The mission will be the first formal tie between the two countries since the out- break of the Korean war. Until last June trade be- tween the US and China was prohibited. But now a limited amount of 'non-strategic' trade has begun. 'The Americans are anxious to enter the Chinese markets with heavy equipment and machinery construction locomotives, equipment, internal combustion engines, rolling mills and indus- trial chemicals. Nixon yesterday prepared for of talks with a second round Chinese leaders after urging them to join the US in 'bridging the gulf between the two countries.

Within hours of his arrival in Peking on Monday, the President a one-hour discussion had held with Chairman Mao Tse-tung and talks with Premier Chou En- lai.

FRANK TALKS

the 'serious and He conducted frank' while talks with Mao • forces in S Vietnam American continued heavy air strikes and against liberation artillery fire army authori- forces. American ties yesterday claimed 53 N Viet- casualties in several namese hours of fighting. Outwardly, the summit meet- for its has been noted austerity — no cheering crowds, no expensive cavalcades. But away from the eyes of the the meeting is Chinese people, generously hospitable. And two nights ago the Nixons were guests at a sumptuous banquet. During the meal the Red Army Band played 'Home on the Range' and 'America the Beautiful'.

QUOTATION

'People's Daily' the Chinese Communist Party newspaper, yes- Mao's terday produced one of quotations, with particular application to the Nixon visit: •We resolutely advocate the practice by all nations of the five principles of peaceful co- existence. 'These are mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality, and mutual benefit.' many" pictures One of the which appeared in the paper showed a beaming President Nixon and a warmly smiling Chairman Mao. The first meeting with the the world's biggest leader of capitalist state took place at Mao's home in Peking. The hospitality extended by the Chinese Stalinists to this leader of world capitalism is indeed special. Nixon is staying at an immaculate guest house, patrolled constantly by Chinese People's Liberation Army guards. UNITED NATIONS Middle East peace envoy Dr Gunner Jarring will go • to Israel on Friday for talks with Foreign Minister Abba Eban, it was officially announced in Jerusalem yesterday. The Jarring talks broke off last February when Israel refused to give a positive reply to a memor- andum concerning the occupied Palestinian territories. AT LAST the TUC has opened its mouth on the miners' strike. Its finances and general purposes committee has congratulated the NUM executive on recommending acceptance of the strike settle.

ment and has 'expressed appreciation' to the unions which donated to the strike and whose members refused to cross the picket lines.

Yet, throughout the miners' struggle, the TUC came to their aid. It did not once consider mobilizing its 10 million members behind them.

It stood by while Hugh Scanlon called off the engineers' national wages fight. It watched passively while Frank Chapple accepted 7} per cent for the power workers.

The TUC was prepared to leave the miners isolated in 1972, as it had left the postmen isolated in 1971. The support for the miners throughout the ranks of organized labour was a basic class feeling, which over-rode the silence of the TUC leaders.

The miners were actively supported by thousands of Labour Party members. This found no reflection in the House of Commons, where Labour's spokesman on fuel and power, Harold Lever, joined Carr in expressing relief that a settlement seemed to have been reached.

And Communist Party members fought with the miners while the 'Morning Star' remained silent on the shipping of scab coal into N Ireland by the Polish Stalinist government.

Trotsky once described the British working class as a 'slumbering giant, tied down by pygmies. When the giant gained consciousness and began to move, the pygmies 1926, Trotsky would be thrown aside. On the eve of warned in advance of the role of the Labour and trade union leaders: "The chief efforts of the official leadership of the Labour Party and of à considerable number of the official trade union leaders will not be directed towards paralysing the bourgeois state by means of the strike, but towards paralysing the General Strike with the aid of the bourgeois state' In 1972 the miners avenged 1926. In doing so, they struck terror into the hearts, not only of the Tories, but of the Labour and trade union bureaucrats as well.

These leaders stopped the movement short of bringing down the Tories altogether, but they could not prevent a substantial victory. Let the pygmies beware. The giant is stirring.

BY JACK GALE

struggle Stalinism for against almost 50 must be avail- years YESTERDAY'S 'Times' carried a able to him. He long letter from an anonymous does however, show not, Czechoslovak Instead he journalist describ- interest in this. any of ing the life an oppositionist reveals great pessimism: in Czechoslovakia. 'Now I am sitting here staring and I realize out of the window The author describes accurately that 30 years of my life have been the Stalinist 'legal' system: wasted. have used my up 'First they the invent guilt, energy and my health in the cause then they and stage the crime of a great fraud. order evidence and testimony. He lines himself up alongside The judge and prosecutors are instructed by the Party, and the 'When people ask Party secretariat fixes the length of the sentence and chooses the socialism, I usually defendants who, anyway, were placed lists long disappointment expresses ago' 'With him (Khrushchev) "The disappeared Russian ponies the Khrushchev who did not do any- regime officer corps, managers and purges until 20 years after.

people even about the working class: St there and anti-communist senti- 'Here 'shown how emanate in the first place from proved. the they what official propaganda calls the large is should be but it is not Direct the courage of such men as this new. repression under Stalinism with the 1934, bureaucracy. They are publicized murder of in himself. and supported in the W, however, arranged by Intimidation precisely because they are not a opponents, and exile trumped-up Dubcek received sympathy and that. has been media of a type and on a scale It opposed, con- never extended to Trotsky nor to by Trotskyists from that day to the victims of the Moscow Trials.

Thạt is as it should this. Stalinist bureaucracy will only be "The Times' correspondent admits that until 1968 he was, in overthrown by a political revolu- Stalinist tion of the working class. Such the main, an orthodox and he then that became Dubcek supporter. truction of revolutionary parties That, of course, does not dis- from speaking in E Europe and the qualify him national, out But, as an intellectual Soviet Union. now. with contacts the W, There will be no sympathy for In some knowledge of the Trotskyists' that in 'The Times'.

CO-OP

BRINGS

COAL IN

FROM US

THE CO-OPERATIVE Whole- sale Society. yesterday began bringing in coal supplies from Europe and the United States.

20,000-ton supply for A domestic users is expected on board a German collier at Immingham, Lincolnshire. The Co-op hopes to bring in about 100,000 tons within the next three weeks. A PRODUCTIVITY deal for the London Ambulance Ser- vice being proposed by_ the Tory-controlled Greater Lon- don Council will undermine state of the further the National Health Service and the conditions of those em- ployed in it. A £4 rise is being offered to men, but in the ambulance return they will have to work harder and under conditions which will be detrimental to the service they provide. One driver told Workers Press the Tories seem to want to turn the ambulance service into a 'profitable business venture' The deal, which has so far been rejected by the Transport Workers' and General Union, various cuts in the envisages present service. The number of staff would be cut from 1,922 to 1,881, 41 less, and the number of ambulances reduced by 62. To do this every- one would be required to work a 42-hour week, of which two hours would be paid as 'con- ditioned' overtime. The number of overtime hours worked, it is calculated, would be reduced by 462,000, and the bill for overtime pay would be cut by £535,000. This would be done partly by limiting the lunch break to 20 minutes and not taking it at a set time At present ambulance men take their lunch between noon and 2 p.m., which is generally the only time that meals are served in hospitals. Thus it is proposed should miss meals that many still doing a heavy, while responsible, and sometimes dangerous job. One driver commented: In many instances the service is stretched to the limit even now.

The GIC must know this. Never- theless the ruthless cutting of a vital service is proposed. I know

LATE-NIGHT

PASS PROTEST

BY STUDENTS

THREE HUNDRED students at a London teachers' training col- lege held a one-day strike yester- day in support of 64 suspended colleagues. The students, from Trent Park College of Education, Cock- fosters, marched to the college from the halls of residence. .

• College authorities claim the suspended students broke their late-pass rules. Yesterday they were still in one of the halls of residence. The rules under which they have been •suspended make it compulsory for students to apply for late passes 24 hours in advance. They are allowed out all night Friday and Saturday, but must sign on and say where they are going. The other rule insists that visitors must be out by 1l p.m., with a half-hour extension on Fridays and Saturdays.

BY A POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

WINSTON CHURCHILL, MI

'peddling' parliamentary questi ing an investigation of the not rOW. of a case where it took three quarters of an hour one night to get to an accident. As it happened, there was no serious result. 'Also people may sometimes be encouraged to call a taxi or minicab if their case is not an absolute and the emergency ambulance men are busy. This is a way of making poor people who are sick suffer most, and so It negates the whole aim of the health service' The Tories are proposing to save fim at the expense of lives and health. Another driver pointed out it was never proposed to cut the police and fire brigade. It is law and property that matters to the another Tories. This deal is step in the Tory attack on the health service. The next Labour government must be pledged to restore these cuts. UNION OFFICIALS are meeti in London today over a strike a pany—part of GEC Medical Eo don, Surrey. Last Friday, over 300 elec- trical and engineering workers were locked out at Dean's two days after technical and super- visory staff struck work in support of a demand for a £5-a-week-across-the-board pay increase submitted in April 1971. ASTMS GEC. Medical Group Secretary, Neil Evans, on the line yesterday, told picket Workers Press of the history their nine-month-old dispute: 'Last the shop floor year workers were given a f6 a week loss-of-overtime compensation payment. The management, how- didn't consider it ever, was necessary to give the staff any part in this. 'Since then we have been all through the procedure,' said Mr Evans, 'but it hasn't got us any- where. 'We haven't even got to the Pit arrests

THE

unprecedented scale on which the Tories used police to harass the miners during their six-week strike only became apparent this week. During January and February police arrested 263 miners for offences arising out of picketing, the Minister of State, Home Office, told the Commons in a written reply. ILL, MP, has been accused of y questions to fellow MPs dur- the notorious questions-rigging During a select committee hearing into questions-rigging, Cunningham (Labour George Islington SW) said that Chur- chill, as parliamentary private secretary to the Housing Min- ister, went around handing out questions. Churchill replied: 'One saw MPs going through the lobby who one knew would be inter- ested in housing matters and asked if they would be pre- pared to put down these ques- tions. "They would have no means of knowing what the source of these questions was. Churchill's mınister, Julian Amery, an extreme right-winger, openly admitted his involvement in the questions-rigging.

Amery said he provided draft which then questions were 'planted' with Tory MPs. He said regarded what he had that he done as 'absolutely normal'.

Amery said: 'On March 10 some backbenchers expressed the Opposition that concern seemed to be mounting a major campaign and pre-empting the Order Paper on housing, particu- larly in London, perhaps with the approaching local elections in mind. There were suggestions that questions should be put down to redress the balance and we agreed we might help.' e meeting GEC representatives strike at A. E. Dean and Com- dical Equipment Ltd-in Croy.

NEIL EVANS

stage of speaking to the man- agement yet. I understand that GEC has 14 companies on strike.

Jack Scamp, their chief negotia- tor, has been reported as saying that this is what negotiations are all about.' On the morning after the breakdown of national-level talks, with the backing of the staft, their union, struck work.

Two days later management informed engineering and electrical unions that their members would be laid off until the dispute was settled.

Said Mr Evans: 'We are deter- mined on a point of principle to and this stay out now see through! And a technician fellow-picket added: 'Our spirits are high and with every degree drop in tem- determination perature our hardens.' Workers Press, Wedne REPRESENTATIVES of 600 men who have been on strike for 15 weeks have besieged their union office in New- castle seeking that the dispute be made official. The men laggers-they pipes-with insulate Thermal Insulation, a big contracting firm.

The men are demanding a 167p an hour increase to bring them into line with rates in Scotland.

They were working on the Blythe power station when the dispute broke out. Last week the company sacked all of them as they entered the 15th week of their strike. On Monday a group of workers stormed one office of their union, General and the Municipal Workers' Union.

barred by They were Ald Andrew Cunningham, the local union official, and he later saw a small deputation. He promised to do 'everything in his power' to help the striking men. Hospital costs YOU CAN still pay for private residential treatment in Regional Health Board Hospitals under the Health Services and Public Health Act of 1968. But it's going to cost you more in the future. From April 1, the charges for a single room each day will be: Class A: long stay hospitals £7.90. Class B: psychiatric hospitals £4.90. Class C: acute and other hos- pitals €12.90. Class D: London Teaching hos- Make the Tory government resign! Return a Labour government pledged to restore full employ- laws ment and repeal all against the unions! DAGENHAM: Wednesday February 23, 8 p.m. Room 11, East Ham Town Hall. 'Labour must force a General Election.'

WILLESDEN:

Monday February 28, 8 p.m. Trades and Labour Hall, High Road, NW 10. 'Labour must force a Election.' General W LONDON: Tuesday Feb- ruary 29, 8 p.m. Prince Albert, Wharfedale Rd, off York Way, Kings Cross. 'Crisis of capt- talism'. s8, Wednesday February 23, 1972 PAGE 3 THE ROYAL Insurance group has begun its drive into the Common Mar- ket by taking a £2.7m stake in a W German insurance firm. Royal is issuing 647,300 of its own shares for a 10 per cent holding in Aachener und Versicherung AG, Munchener the seventh largest insurance company in W Germany. two groups have also The agreed to give one another under- writing and servicing facilities in their respective countries.

Mr John Howard, a director and general manager of Royal, said yesterday: "The proposals are designed to operate to mutual advantage.' Mutual advantage, that is, to the insurance business. The Royal link-up within the Common Market means that the enormously wealthy insurance houses are anxious to establish investment outlets in Europe.

AN ITN sound recordist told the Widgery tribunal yesterday that a soldier said to him after the Bloody Sunday episode: "That will teach them not to mess with the paras.' Robert Hammond, who was a member of a news filming crew, said: 'I can only imagine that he was reterring to shooting from the army.' He agreed that the soldier appeared to be justifying shooting. Yesterday Lord Chief Justice Widgery heard the first witnesses to the shooting incident in which 13 civilians were shot down.

BBC cameraman Peter Beggin inquiry told the that army snatch squads were fired on as they raced across open ground in front of the Rossville Flats.

"They were rifle shots, Beggin claimed. "These the first were shots I heard.' He said the shots did not appear to be fired by the soldiers. Under cross-examination, Beggin said he could not see all the paratroopers involved. He added: I have no evidence as to whom fired any shots. The inquiry continues today.

SW LONDON: Tuesday Feb- ruary 29, 8 p.m._Small Hall, Clapham Manor Baths, Clap- ham Manor St, SW4. 'Labour must force a General Elec- tion'. ACTON: Wednesday March 1, 8 p.m. Mechanics Arms, Churchfield Rd, W3. 'Labour must force a General Election'.

SE LONDON: Thursday March 2, 8 p.m. Deptford Engineers' Club (opp New Cross stn). "The General Strike' N LONDON: Thursday March 2, 8 p.m. Town "all, Edmon- ton. 'Building the revolutionary party'.

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Wednesday February 23, 1972

YOUNG SOCIALISTS

NATIONAL

RIGHT-TO-WORK

CAMPAIGN

There are now well over one million people out of work in Britain, the highest joblessness for a quarter of a century.

These huge levels of unemployment are as a direct result of Tory policies. The Young Socialists' Right-to-Work cam- paign is i challenge to these policies and, therefore, the continued rule of this government.

MARCHERS

ARRIVE

SATURDAY MARCH 11

The marchers will arrive at the outskirts of London and will be greeted at: EAST INDIA HALL, East India Dock Road, E14. 7 pm

CENTRE,

Westcott

HANWELL

COMMUNITY

Crescent, W7.7 pm LIME GROVE BATHS, Shepherds Bush, W12. 7pm

RALLY

EMPIRE POOL WEMBLEY

SUNDAY MARCH 12, 3 p.m. Speakers: G. HEALY (SLL National Secretary) CLIVE NORRIS (National Secretary of Right-to- Work Campaign) JOHN BARRIE (YS leader of Glasgow march) TOP LINE ENTERTAINMENT, 7.30 p.m.

SPIKE MILLIGAN. PAUL JONES.

'STONE THE CROWS.

'ROCK

ROLL

ALL STARS. RAM JOHN HOLDER.

'N

'THE

PENTANGLE'.

Spike Milligan Tickets: £l, unemployed 50p Apply to: Clive Norris National Right-to-Work Campaign, 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 TUG Phone: 01-622 7029

MARCH

THROUGHOUT LONDON

MONDAY MARCH 13

Assemble: 10 am, Speaker's Corner, Marble Arch March: 11 am through West End to the Temple.

MASS LOBBY

OF PARLIAMENT

Lobby your Labour MP: 2 pm Meeting: 4.30 pm Central Hall, Westminster

GLASGOW

SWANSEA

PONTYPRIDD

YOUNG SOCIALISTS

NATIONAL

RIGHT-TO-WORK

CAMPAIGN

We are marching from

GLASGOW FEBRUARY 5—LIVERPOOL

FEBRUARY 19-

-SWANSEA FEBRUARY

19 to a mass rally at EMPIRE POOL, WEMBLEY on MARCH 12

WANTED URGENTLY

Accommodation Cooking equipment Tinned food Finance Brass/Jazz bands Please tick box where applicable

NAME

ADDRESS

PHONE NUMBER

Please complete above form and post to : Clive Norris, National Secretary, Right-to-Work Campaign 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UG Or phone 01-622 7029.

YORK

LIVERPOOL

• OLDHAM

ONTYPRIDD

LONDON

YOUNG SOCIALISTS.

SUNDAY MARCH 12

EMPIRE POOL, WEMBLEY, RALLY 3 p.m.

TOP LINE, ENTERTAINMENT, 7.30 p.m.

SPIKE MILLIGAN. PAUL JONES. 'STONE

THE CROWS'. 'ROCK

'N ROLL ALL

STARS. RAM JOHN HOLDER. 'THE

PENTANGLE'.

Tickets: El, unemployed 50p I would like to come to the rally

NAME

ADDRESS

I would like tickets Amount enclosed £ Please send details of transport to the Empire Pool Complete form and send to: Clive Norris, Right-to-Work Campaign, 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UG.

Workers Press, Werinesday February 23, 1972 PAGE 5

NIXON'S WAR

UNCENSORED

In Peking today Chairman Mao exchanges compliments and greetings with President Nixon. And while the meeting takes place every Maoist in this country and throughout the capitalist world remains silent. The latest publication of the Maoists in Britain con- tains this caption: 'Mao Tse- tung thought is the invincible weapon!' Meanwhile, Nixon is with his proceeding hideous weapons. He is rain- ing bombs and napalm and herbicides on the Vietnamese, Cambodian Laotian and countryside; killing, he is maiming and hildren. He is men, women and children. engaged in the most colossal slaughter since the Somme.

The whole country has become like grisly some graveyard. The photographer Griffiths Philip Jones spent three years in Vietnam to capture some of the reality of Nixon's Most of his material has not been pub- lished in the capitalist press; editors felt that his pictures were 'in bad taste'. Now his photographs are published in a book 'Vietnam Inc' (Collier- Macmillan Ltd, London). The selection of material shows the meticulous and unsenti- mental way the photographer about his work. He attempted to get into every corner of the Vietnam it's anything is missing of the a picture American tonture units. He apparently spent a week with such unit but didn't get the chance surreptitiously his camera. But what he has assembled is horrific. taking these photographs he came in direct contact with the savagery of US imperial- ism. He once saw a woman prisoner of war lying on the ground in terrible pain with When a bullet in her spine. if he asked soldier couldn't expedite her treat- ment, officer replied: 'What's the hurry? When the

GVN

Vietnamese (South army) have interrogated her, she'll only raper and anyway? Killed He also couldn't be but moved by the heroism of the National Liberation Front fighters. On occasion he with was American soldiers when they one of the shot. and killed 'gooks. The dead soldier had fought for three days with a cooking bowl strapped to his stomach to keep guts from spilling out. Philip Jones Griffiths book won't alter the course of Nixon's war. But it's the sort of horrible gift one should give to Harold Wilson.

Brown George and Denis Healey of the Labour Party and perhaps the odd Maoist Reg Birch like or Mike Cooley. Men of the Right: Tropic Lightning', the 25th Infantry Division, leave their visiting cards - off shoulder patches depicting the divi- emblem, bolt of sion's lightning - stuffed in the mouths of people they kill.

Top left: Ten-year-old ARVN (South Vietnamese regular) a little Tiger' feted for killing two 'Vietcong women cadre' the day before—his teacher and his mother—it rumoured. Above left: wounded children, who like most civilian victims, had been hit by indiscriminately used US firepower. Right: Gls who reasoned according to the US Army handbook on Vietnam assumed that peasants who still chose to live in VC controlled areas and resisted being 'saved' must therefore be crazy and so deserved to die.

23, 1972 PAGE 7

Above: Much research has gone into producing 'anti-personnel bombs' that will wound more often than kill Vietnamese. The wounded become an asset for they take others out of action to care for them.

These people were classed as 'terminal' and sent home to die. Left: 1968—the battle for the cities. All it took to destroy District 8 of Saigon was a handful of Vietcong... and help from the US Army and Air Force.

Untrained for and unfamiliar with street fighting, many Americans were killed.

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Wednesday February 23, 1972

Irish Young Socialists have launched a fortnightly, printed edition of their paper 'Youth Bulletin'. The first four-page issue appeared at the beginning of February. An editorial welcoming read- ers gives a brief history of the from paper's development a - monthly 12-page foolscap-sized launched in duplicate paper June 1970, to the present fort- nightly paper. The commitment to launch a taken following a paper was decision at the first National Committee meeting of the lYS held in 1970. "The editorial: Says the history of "Youth Bulletin" has been one of achievements.

'In our second issue we printed our first photographs and increased the circulation to 500.

[350 copies of the first edition were printed.] In the fourth issue we introduced three-colour printing, and pushed the circula- tion up to 1,000. The circulation was pushed up to 1,500 in the fifth issue and by the sixth issue in December 1970 it had risen again to 2,000. 1971 a new-sized In January six-page duplicated paper was launched . together with a . fund for £200 to launch the printed paper in 1972. By May 1971 the size had increased to eight pages and the circulation to 2,500. Two stages of a second fund had raised £500 to make the 'Youth over Bulletin' a printed paper with an initial circulation of 3,000.

The statement goes on: 'Behind this impressive record of achievements lies the strength and of thousands support youth who have contributed to our success in a variety of ways. ... It is because we are confi- dent of this continuing support that we can immediately begin to make plans for increasing the

FEBRUARY 197.

inada

INTERNATIONAL

YOUTH NEWS

BY SARAH HANNIGAN

circulation The publication of the printed paper, say the lYS, occurs at a important time in the his- very tory of the Irish working class. 'Ireland, along with every capitalist other country in the world, has entered a period of recession and economic sharp crisis. For capitalism there is no solution to this crisis, unless the working class can be forced to foot the bill. In Ireland, in the final analysis, this means that an attempt will be made to make working Protestant and Catholic, Northern Southern, surrender the rights they have.' The paper warns that entry into the Čommon Market is an open declaration, by the Tories at Westminster and in the Lynch government, of war on the work- ing class. They want to create over the whole of Britain and Ireland, unemployment on a scale not

RIGHI TO WORRY IMPAIGN

MINI RS SIRINI

BANGLADESH

BRUARY 1972 VOL. 3. No. I THREI PAVOI •8::

LOTS

SAY

MENT NOW

S OUT

even reached during the 1930s.

This is the price the Irish and British working class must pay if capitalism is to continue as a system.' 'Youth Bulletin' points out that in Britain and Ireland the work- ing class has shown its deter- mination to fight Heath and the Tories and their puppets Lynch and Faulkner. 'It is possible', it mobilize support says, amongst British workers for the Irish working struggles of class. And vice versa. 'An important first step has been taken towards this in the involvement of the Irish Young Socialists in the Right-to-Work being held in Britain March from February 5 to March 12.

The only friend of the Irish worker is the British worker.

friend of the And the only Catholic worker is the Protestant ' worker. Only if this is recog- nized and acted the on can Irish working class be assured of success in its struggles.'

Throughout its history 'Youth Bulletin' has offered a principled leadership to all youth, particu- larly in its consistent opposition to the British troops in N Ire- land right from the first.

The paper pledges to continue to •provide this sort of leader- ship in the future. Among other articles in the first issue is a detailed report of support from Irish workers for the Young Socialists Right-to- Work campaign. The miners' struggle against the Tory government is also explained, well as as struggle in Bangla Desh against Yahya Khan. The 'Bulletin' editorial board has suggested that IYS branches set up Readers' Circles. New readers are invited to set up circles in their own areas to discuss and broaden the base of the paper. The IYS are building a paper to be proud of! Workers Press, Wednesday February 23, 1972 PAGE 9 wild as any H. G. Wells could drum up. And that Jesus! He really cuts me up! I worship When it comes to Conser- Him, but He tickles me to vatism in this country it must be a close tie between Perth- Cash-who professes concern shire and Tory parts of the for prisoners coming to England. And he's this incident during preparing thoroughly: the miners' strike. A group of got my books all ready to take to England—Winston smuggled lubricating oil Peoples", a power station to Speaking plant to operate at full capacity.

volumes one through four.

which proudly The group, rugged image. How does his making', included a solicitor life-style measure consultant. computer 'We own a mansion,' he says, Derek Nicholls (34), a business 'but that's home.' of Plumstree, tinghamshire (where else!) said 3,000 gallons had been secretly Ray Gunter, recently resigned from the Labour Party, has went through in number of interesting trucks with the oil in tar- business pursuits, among them drums. paulin-covered The directorship in Securicor pickets did not suspect what and firm one in private was happening, Nicholls said.

called Industrial Communica- The

CEGB

would make no (Public Relations and tions comment. Publication). which was regis- after Gunter According to the Tory Minister of Labour Westminster, the army is serving a 'peace-keeping' role states, as its primary aims: Tory ministers have repeatedly denied that the army of helping industry to intro- provokes anything. duce management techniques, Here are a couple of anec- dotes to dispel this notion.

achieving higher productivity.'

At the Newry demonstration Another of its aims is a couple of weeks ago, 'assist in the formation of the a British solider-carrying a Corporate Image'. Chief among the six share- stand in front shares is a firm called Higher letters: IRA kill women and Productivity (Organization and children'. He wrote this in full Bargaining). Other shareholders of thousands of people Bond fame (1,000 the start of the Gunter (1,000), William When a young aged Samuel James about 16, went up to the wall and Harris Henry with 1.000 and tried to rub the sign off, shares. he was pushed and shoved out Of directors, the most of the -at gunpoint. way- interesting is Sir lain Maxwell 45 Royal Marine Now the Stewart. Commando Unit under the Sir lain has numerous command of Lt-Col Sir Steuart directorships. He is a director Pringle has returned to of Newspapers Beaverbrook four-month Arbroath after a Ltd, British European Airways, tour of duty in Ulster. Design and Industrial Styling They stepped ashore with Consultants Ltd, Dorchester two newly-recruited mascots Hotel, Babcock and Wilcox, called Bernadette two pigs Eagle Star Insurance Company, and Paisley. Scottish Television Ltd, to name but a few. He is chairman of also Higher Productivity and of Latest the Jesus Hall-Thermotank Ltd. recruit to is bandwagon and Gunter's for the country support Tories' Industrial Relations Act western singer Johnny Cash.

I read the Bible. And study understandable! One is easily it, you know, and the more I wonders how he managed to learn, the more excited I get. stand the strain for so long Some of those stories are as in the Labour Party!

LEON TROTSKY:

Germany 1931/1932 Paperback £1.25 -cloth £1.871 Where Is Britain Going? Paperback 37łp Revolution Betrayed Paperback 6210- -cloth £1.05 Problems of the Chinese Revolution Paperback £1.121cloth £1.871 Permanent Revolution : Results and Prospects Paperback 75p In Defence of Marxism Paperback 750 Lessons of October Paperback 60p Postage 10p per book, 3p per namphlet. Order from :

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186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG.

PAGE 10 Workers Press, Wednesday Feb

GLASGOW-LONDON: STEPHEN

LIVERPOOL-LONDON: PHILIP

SWANSEA-LONDON: DAVID N

MIDDLESBROUGH is the heart of Teesside, once the boom area of the NE, but now struck by record levels of un- employment. Normally the area, which steel and includes the chemical towns of Stockton, Billingham, Wilton and Red- an unemployment car, has rate mid-way between the national average and the regional level. The latest figures for January tell a different tale. The national percentage is 4.3.

the NE regional level is 6.9 and Teesside unemployment stands at a post-war record of 8.1. Male is a staggering unemployment 10.1 per cent. The manager of the Middles- exchange brough employment told me that this meant that the dole queues were growing faster than any other spot in the NE anywhere in and fast as as Britain. In January 1970, 5,444 men were without work. This Janu- ary 11,339 were on the dole. has Youth unemployment, too, doubled over the same period to almost 1,000. of this mass un- The cause employment is-revealing. Teesside depends on steel and chemicals.

Both industries have experienced a rationalization drive. Old plant has closed and modern equip- ment installed at sites nearer the coast. The new capacity, however, the same does not employ number of men who worked at the closed units. The new invest- ment is capital intensive' The British Steel Corporation for example has shut down three plants on the Teesside over the last year. But their new BOS has plant at Lackenby not redundancies. absorbed the Hence the biggest single crop of redundancies (1,838) in the last quarter of 1971, were in metal manufacturing. It's the same case at Wilton and Billingham where ICI has two of the biggest chemical com- plexes in Europe. Old processes like the Anhydrite plant at Bil- lingham have been closed and labour steadily shed as new capi- tal intensive processes are intro- duced. The result is that the second highest batch of redun- in chemical dancies the are sector—667 were sacked in the last quarter of 1971 alone.

The reason for the shake-out is international competition. This is particularly true for ICI is facing cut-throat battle with its international rivals. Of course capitalization is no solution. It reduces the rate of profit and presses the capitalist class into even more drastic cut-backs.

This slump has had a dramatic effect on the working class of esday February 23, 1972

TEPHEN JOHNS REPORTING

PHILIP WADE REPORTING

DAVID MAUDE REPORTING

ENCY

A WELCOME MEAL

Teesside. For the first time since the war, people can't get jobs.

Vacancies have decreased by one third over the year. Dave Jones (20) is a new re- march from Tees- cruit to the side: 'I will tell what I have done.

My mate and I have made a list in the Stockton of every firm area where I live. We systemati- cally went round and visited each one. Everywhere it was the same -come back next week or a straight refusal. It's impossible to get a job. 'I have been out of work since July. The exchange don't even bother to try to get us jobs any more. At first they used to send us for jobs, but always when you got there someone else had taken the job.' Worse is ICI is to come. building new plant at Seal Sands on land reclaimed from the sea.

This is threatening 3,000 jobs at Billingham. The labour exchange man said things might get better in the spring-but he had no idea why or how. In Middlesbrough we've had a good reception. Our particular thanks to the students of the BOTH playwright Jim Allen playwright-actor Neville and with the Smith-who marched Liverpool-London contingent for a time last weekend—feel the YS campaign has big poli- tical implications. 'The Young Socialists' demand for the Rampaign to force are of the campaign Tories to resign, Neville told me. 'I'm in two unions, Equity and ACTT (film technicians) - both have 75 per cent of their members unemployed. "There is a growing realization, despite what reformists have us believe, that we would mustn't wait five years to get the Tories out. Nails are being driven into the Tory coffin.

WE DEMAND

THE

RIGHT

TO

WORK

EXIT

OME MEAL BREAK AT IMMINGHAM FOR THE G

Polytechnic. They paid for a meal in the union cafeteria and arranged for the marchers to use the excellent showers.

Shop stewards at ICI Wilton have backed the march and will take collection. Workers. at a malleable pipe works (BSC) are also taking a collection as are the men of Head-Wright's en.- gineering-another place hit by big redundancies. The trades council also voted support. The resolution went up to the executive committee and a donation of £40 was suggested.

But this was blocked by Stewart Hill, local Communist Party secretary. He agreed with a donation, but opposed the sug- gestion of a specific sum.

We also had a brush with AUEW district secretary Harold Robson. The

AUEW

district committee voted to give 'every assistance'. But at first Robson denied us the use of the AUEW hall. This, he said, was a matter for the national executive com- mittee to decide. He changed his mind, however, and contacted us at the Polytechnic and offered us accommodation. It was too late, 'The miners have shown the Ca strength of the working class.

But it's not enough to go for- ward purely economic on demands. Every day we must like this march is prepare, doing, a leadership capable of taking power.' me: I'm Jim Allen told marching because the Right-to- Work march is a contribution to the push that is needed to get the Tories out. 'The power of the working class has been shown by the miners. The Feathers and the SUPPORT for the Right-to- Work march continues to mount. Express' The 'Daily

NATSOPA

clerical chapel committee has passed a resolu- tion of support and donated £10. Workers at the Mercantile dry dock, Jarrow, have given £13.80 for the Right-to-Work marchers— £4.40 for food and

OR THE GLASGOW-LONDON MARCHERS

however. We're fixed up in a local church hall. Tomorrow we strike out into again. A tough the countryside 27-mile hike to Thirsk in York- shire lies before us. This takes away from Leeds stop us one and the Yorkshire coalfield.

Radio Teesside has done a long interview with of the some marchers. This is in contrast to Tyne Tees television who have carefully avoided the march. As one sympathetic Tyne Tees tech- nician told me: They decided the whole thing was a little bit too naughty for them' Cliff Jackson, AUEW con- Middles- venor, at Lionwela,, brough, last night joined the attack on the bureaucrats in the Labour Party who did not sup- port the march. I admire your spirit and l am right behind you. I think it's disgusting that the district com- mittee of my union did not do more for you.' Mr Jackson also paid tribute to the Workers Press: 'I am quite astonished by the quality and of articles in this paper, depth he said.

NEVILLE SMITH (L.) AND JIM ALLEN

Campbell-Adamsons can together and talk of the lessons and of negotiations. 'But as the engineers in Birm- ingham showed, the working class is on the march regardless of the leadership's despair.

'We've had our "Red Friday".

We have to make sure it doesn't lead to "Black Friday". We've gear and we're tested the What's lacking is the business. leadership. This march has the political determination to fulfil that need, said Jim. £9.40 for the marchers). Two playwrights, Michael Hastings and Hugh Whitmore, have also agreed to give sup- port. They were joint award winners for the documentary, 'In Search of the Nile'. Elkan Allan, 'Sunday Times' television columnist, has also made a donation of f4 towards the cost of the march.

BY PHILIP WADE

ON MERSEYSIDE

THE RESPONSE our march received in Skelmersdale today what an proved to all of us impact the Right-to-Work cam- paign is having in the Lancashire working class. First of all, just outside the met by some town we were building workers from the Bison site. They had just finished a four-week reinstatement strike.

But on the first day back, deputy steward Ray Hodson was sacked for defending another victimized worker. 'Our fight is like your fight the right to work and the right to strike, ' he told me as we marched into town. Just before the strike began, the men on the site collected over £33 for the Right-to-Work campaign. Waiting on the balcony of the town hall to greet us was councillor Phil Bond, chairman of Labour-controlled town the council. With him was Charlie Denton, chairman of Skelmers- dale trades council and a member of the Communist Party. After, the tea and sandwiches by laid council Phil told me that the serious Bond situation confronting the working unity of the class needed total couldn't afford to class. We argue about bans and proscrip- tions in the Labour Party.

'As far as I'm concerned the test of any organization must be in its seriousness fighting the Tory government. We are pleased to see youth like these in action here. and welcome them The Tories won't be brought down by speeches or resolutions in the House of Commons or anywhere ' he said. else, Councillor Bond also told me how they used to talk about Skelmersdale promised as land, a new town in the heart of which would. bring Lancashire jobs for all. Workers_were lured from Liver- pool with the bait of a new house.

But the dream turned sour on broken promises. Today there are over 1,000 workers unemployed.

the reception During town hall we were given two more boosts to our march. Workers from Air Industries U.K.

Ltd walked in and handed over a collection of nearly £5 taken among 40 office and shop-floor workers. told that And then I was workers on the nearby McAlpine building site had raised over $10 for us and would take weekly collections until the march reached London. We got about five miles from Wigan after our Skelmersdale break and we once again met our friends from Bold colliery. About 15, led by Mick Connolly, joined the march and stayed. with us into town. The magnificent response we have had so far has really im.

pressed the marchers. Norman Oswald, who at 15 is the youngest on the march, said: 'Everywhere we have asked for support we've got it. The miners said they would march all the way to London with us if they weren't going back to work.'

One of the Kirkby boys, Ken- neth Joyce, who lost his appren- ticeship some months back, also recognized the support. 'I've sold about 150 Workers Press in two days and I think it was good the way all those other workers joined in the march. Now we are going to fight to get to London.

We'll beat the lories,. otherwise I'll never get a decent job.'

SEE PICTURE P.12.

Young and old in S Wales

FROM DAVID MAUDE IN S WALES

ALONG the 20 - mile march from Neath to Bridgend, the Right-to- Work marchers met who vividly workers expressed the past and present of the working class in S Wales. Two workers in particular —one 19 the other 72-gave just a hint of the profound support in the area for our demand that the Tory job- destroyers are forced out of office. Phil Okane is a young worker who lives near the British Steel Corporation's massive works at Margam, Port Talbot. He and his brother Gerald have to virtually support their parents who have both been signed off work because of their health. But Gerald is a council worker earning just £17 a week and Phil is on the dole. All the indications are he will stay there for some time; accord- ing to the Department of Employ- ment there are only 166 young people under 18 on the dole in the town, but local youth leaders laughed bitterly and described this and the D of E's latest 1,358 'ridiculous' figure under- as estimates. Phil thought that when this month's figures are announced tomorrow they will show a big rise-and not just because of the power-cut shutdowns. He also pointed out that build- ing work on the sprawling Baglan Bay construction site the marchers passed on their way into the town ends next month.

When the BP oil-refinery site there is completed it will provide livelihoods for only a few hundred workers compared to the 3,000 who work there now. 'There'll be • lot of boys around my age made redundant when that happens,' Phil told me.

'You can already see what the situation is. I applied to get into the components Borg-Warner, firm, but there was already a waiting list of 1,000. 'The Tories are to blame. It's Conservative only since the government got into office that the unemployment situation has really shot up in this town.

parents voted Labour. 'My the same They feel way as everyone else in Port Talbot. We are all for the miners here. They deserve what they've fought for -in fact they deserve more, back 'But when Labour get again, their policies must be more under control by the working class.'

SWANSEA-LONDON MARCHERS PASS THE BAGLAN BAY BP

SITE WHERE REDUNDANCIES WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON

In the four years since he left to join the march as a result of school, Phil has had no less than our short stay there. six jobs, ranging from provisions In Bridgend, we ran into oppo- manager at supermarket to the sition from right-wing hier- labourer on a building site.

archy of the Labour Party who He warned that many Port banned us from staying the night Talbot taking employers were in the Ogmore Labour Club on advantage of the Tory drive the grounds we were a pro- against jobs to use youth simply scribed organization. cheap labour between 15 and as Labour rank and Party filers 18 and then sack them. rallied to however, our support, Before he was made redund- and collection round the club ant, Phil once worked a 91-hour yielded £2.50 for the week, building an extension to a Old age pensioners at Evergreen He received bank. £90 just in hall provided us welfare kindly return. with somewhere to sleep. Wales is a country of sharp Seventy-two-year-old former

CONTACTS

miner Ted Laidlaw met us there with a cautionary tale of the 1926 On the road from Port Tal- bort to Bridgend, we walked for General Strike and the July 1925 Friday' a long stretch alongside the estate *Red settlement the of brewery Tories used to prepare for it.

owner Evan Bevan, which reminded our four Ulster 'When we went back, in 1926, owned marchers of the property he told me, lit was worse than Orange of their by the Tories Men when we came out. were country. forced into blackleg conditions.

But in the Port Talbot travel- 'And the Tories of today in Bridg- to-work 'area-taking the sons of the fathers we fought end, Cymmer, Maesteg and then-the brass hat men. Porthcawl unemployment in their 'Where do they get was 5.3 per Tanuary cent com- money from for these long trips pared with 3.9 per cent at the and cruises abroad? From us. same time last year. Get them out. I hope your cam- The current figure is 1 per cent paign is a success. 'I am sure it can be! above the national average.

Three "After all the miners beat them.

workers jobless young That was the decisive test.'

from Port Talbot are planning The dally paper that leads the fight agalnst the Tories. 20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) £10.14 for 6 months (156 issues) £5.07 for 3 months (78 Issues) If you want to take Workers Press twice a week the rates are: £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) 26.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Fill in the form below NOW and send to: Circulation Dept., Workers Press 186a Clapham High St., London, SW4 7UG. I would like to take out a subscription to Workers Press.

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BBC 1

9.15 Schools. 10.45 Boomph with Becker. 11.05 Schools. 12.25 Nai zindagi-naya jeevan. 12.55 Disc a dawn.

1.30 Chigley. 1.45- 1.53 News and weather. 2.05-2.50 Schools.

4.15 Play school. 4.40 4.55 Snow white. 5.20 Unsolved mysteries.

5.44 Sir Prancelot. 5.50 News and weather.

6.00 NATIONWIDE. Your region tonight.

6.50 TOM AND JERRY.

7.00 OWEN MD. 'Anclent Enemy'.

7.25 STAR TREK. 'The Man Trap'.

8.10 SOFTLY, SOFTLY: TASK FORCE. 'The Row on the Stairs'.

9.00 NINE O'CLOCK NEWS and weather.

9.25 SPORTSNIGHT WITH COLEMAN. Jockey's showjumping championship of Britain. 10.20 TALKBACK. Michael Barratt.

10.50 24 HOURS.

11.25 Weather.

BBC 2

1.00-11.25 Play school. 5.35-7.00 Open University .05 MAN IN HIS PLACE. 'City of Cycles and Slums' 7.30 NEWSROOM and weather.

8.00 TIMES REMEMBERED.

8.10 MAN ALIVE. 'The New Divorcees'.

9.05 LOOK, STRANGER. 'The Investigator'.

9.25 'THE GANG'S ALL HERE'. Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda James Ellison. Romance between a show girl and a soldier. 11.05 IEWS ON 2 and weathe

1.10 LATE NIGHT LINE-U

ITV

0.20 Schools. 2.32 Living writers. 3.00 Houseparty. 3.10 Te reak. 3.40 Edgar Wallace. 4.40 Paulus. 4.55 Get this! 5.20 Tigh rope: 5.50 News. 6.00 TODAY. Bill Grundy.

6.35 CROSSROADS.

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11.45 WHAT THE PAPERS SAY. Paul Johnson.

12.00 THE TEACHERS.

All regions as BBC-1 except: wide. weather. Wales: Cadi 4.55-5.15 ha. 5.15- Ireland: Scene 6.20 Parsley. 6.00-6.50 Wales 6.50- weather. Nationwide. TaY. weather. .a0-9.40i Fresaro News, weather Heddiw. 7.10-7.40 England: 6.00-6.50 Nationwide. Sound Midlands 7.40-8.10

LOOK

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REGIONAL ITV

CHANNEL:

10.20-2.32 London. _ 3.35 Horoscope. don. Paulus. 4.20 4.25 4.10 Puffin. Tea break. 4.55 London. 6.00 News and Enchanted 6.10 Link 6.35 house. London. weather. up. 7.30

6.00 ATV

toda 10.23 London 7.00 Treasure hunt.

YORKSHIRE:

London. 11.40 Epilogue. News and London. 2.33 weather in French. Weather. 5.05 Teas 3.00 Pied piper. Jobs in and garden.

WESTWARD.

Ae Channel except: 3.55 Honeybun. 4.20 News 4.15 4.55 Londo Rupert News. 11.43 Calendar, Bear. London. Yengher 7.00 University lenge. 11.45 London. Weather. 10.20-2.33 Tea Prook Horoscope 3.40 break. 4.23 TYNE TEES: 10.20 London. 2.32 4.30 Crossroads. London. 6.00 Piper 3.10 journey. 3.05 Pied Day by 5.30 Un Yes News. chal- day. piper. obs om eth in the house and 7.00 Lents weather. London, 11.45 4.15 4.40 Paulus. 4.55 Lon- Crossroads. don. 6.00 Today 6.30 Uni-

HARLECH:

versity challenge. London. 4.15 Tinkertain- 11.45 News. 12.00 Epilogue.

Crossroads. 15 Wister of enchant

SCOTTISH:

London 3.30 | 3.45 @renames. 11.45 Weather. 4.55 Hond Channes Crossroads. 4.10 Dateline. Dateline 6.200. 7.0. above cooks. 630 University challen challenge. 6.01-6.15 11.15] 11.40 London West. Late call. 11.45. Wrestling London.

ANGLIA:

10.20-2.33 London. 2.55

GRAMPIAN:

11.00-2.55 News. 4.00 Tea 4.30 Rom- break. 3.38 News. 3.40 Smith tamily. 4.55 About Anglia 6.55 LOndon.

room. 4.55 London. 6.00 Yoga. 4.40 Enchanted house. 11. 45 10 6.00 weather. London. News, Grampian. kind of living. 12.00 Prayers.

ATV MIDLANDS: 10.20-2.33

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SECRETARY,

SOCIALIST

LABOUR

LEAGUE,

186A CLAPHAM HIGH ST, LONDON, SW4 7UG.

Name Address

PAGE 12 Workers Press, Wednesday Feb Tick

LUNG

SHELFA

MAYOR PHIL BOND

TRADES COUNCIL CHAIRMAN

CHARLIE DENTON

LATE NEWS

NEWS DESK

01-720 2000

CIRCULATION

01-622 7029 Britain's 350,000 nurses will get an 8 per cent pay rise from April 1, keeping within the govern- ment's unofficial norm. Agreement was reached at joint talks in London last night to give qualified staff increases of between £70 and £321 a year. Their new salary scale will range from £952 for an enrolled nurse on her lowest rate to £4,338 for a Chief Nursing Officer on top salary. A top staff nurse will receive £102, making her salary £1,383, while a matron on the highest scale gets another £246 giving her • £3,333 a year. Some lower-paid staff will get a little over 8 per cent, the better-paid just below.

The increases are a real rise in answer to the nurses' demand for an interim cost-of-living increase.

Their lodging charges will not be increased. to coincide with their pay rise. esday February 23, 1972

NIS

SKELMERSDALE

gave tremendous welcome to the Liverpool - London Young Socialists' Right - to - Work marchers on Monday. Mayor of the Labour-controlled coun- cil, Phil Bond, and the local Trades Council chairman, Charlie Denton, who is also a Communist Party member, greeted the marchers from the town hall balcony. Inside the marchers were given tea and sandwiches and there was a short meeting.

As the marchers left, they accompanied by the were Trades Council banner and, most significantly, the banner of the Skelmersdale Com- munist Party and four Party members, including James Buxton, secretary of the Southport branch, and Leonard Toole, secretary of the Skel- mersdale branch. "The Young Socialists' cam-

ARAB HI-JACKERS

who seized a W German Boeing 747 jumbo jet with 187 people

WEATHER

N and W Scotland, N Ireland, NW England and Wales will be mostly dry with bright or sunny periods. A few isolated showers may occur in N Scotland. E Scotland, E and S England and the Midlands will be cloudy with occasional drizzle in places and hill fog patches. Temperatures will be near normal in the N and NW parts of the British Isles but else- where it will be rather cold.

Outlook for Thursday and Friday: Dry in many places. Some rain or sleet at times in the E and S.

Rather cold. Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU).

180b Clapham High Street, London,

SW4 JUG.

unemployment paign against is part of the fight to bring down the Tory government and we support it for that reason, said Leonard Toole. The Communist Party mem- bers said they intended writing a letter to the 'Morning Star' expressing their support for the march. They also plan to attend the March 12 rally at the Empire Pool, Wembley.

See also story on p. 10 and full details of rally on p. 4.

Prison sit-down TWO LIFE prisoners staged five-hour sit-down tion on the roof of Wormwood Scrubs prison yesterday. They hurled slates at warders who tried to approach them. They climbed down after reassurances about being another prison. aboard, forced the plane to land yesterday at Aden. All women passengers were allowed to dis- and embark. But the rest of the crew, including the eldest son of the late Senator Robert Kennedy, were still being held while the jet apparently prepared to fly to another destination. In radio contact the hijackers insisted on being addressed as 'Victorious Jeddah' , a reference to the town in Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqi news agency quoted another statement by jackers, giving the organization's 'The victims of Zionist name as occupation organization'.

The statement said Palestinian commandos throughout the world rejected any form of surrender or defeatism and would deal blows to Israel in other parts of the world. 'The new fascist, nazi state will not deter us whatever attempts at suppression, displace- ment and starvation, the state- ment added. 'We pledge to continue to deal successive and escalating blows in our occupied Arab territory- in Gaza, Hebron, Jafia, Haifa, Nablus and Jerusalem. 'We shall stop only when the enemy occupation of our land has ended.'

BY AN INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT

THE GOVERNMENT is und to make about £25m availab operational Govan Shipbuild made up of the Govan, Sc yards. So far, no buyer has been found for the Clydebank division. Meanwhile, Mr Robert Smith, UCS liquidator, is still holding in abeyance orders for 12 ships and only a few of these are now likely to become available for the Clyde.

This admitted by Mr was Gilchrist, managing Andrew shipbuilders. director of Govan Mr Gilchrist said he was 'very happy' about the way negotiations were going with officials of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions and with leaders of the Clyde shop stewards. Workers in the yards are less happy, however. They say that the former full all report-back meetings on discussions have now ceased. They do not know what is going on and fear that a sell-out agree- ment is under way. The 'Glasgow Herald' reported that union officials and shop 'reached stewards' had leaders agreement in broad general terms with management' This is significant because the current set of negotiations is the first of its kind involving shop stewards' leaders since the They

UCS

had collapse. previously refused to enter any unless all four talks such divisions of UCS were covered.

Now the Stalinists have drop- ped this condition. No wonder Gilchrist could say: 'We are now confident that it will be possible to sign an agreement between the Confederation and Govan Shipbuilders covering all the basic points required for working practices.' A drafting committee is prepar- ing the agreement which is ex- pected to be ready in about a week's time. A BOMB yesterday wrecked the officers' mess of the Parachute Regiment at Aldershot, Hamp- people and shire, killing seven injuring 17. Five of the dead were women civilians, one was a male civilian and the other was an army officer. An army spokesman said the mess was unoccupied by the regiment. The blast occurred at 2 p.m.

The Official wing of the IRA in Dublin claimed responsibility for the explosion. A statement issued by them said: 'A unit of the IRA carried successful retaliatory out a l operation at the headquarters of the 16th Parachute Brigade at Aldershot. The operation took place at the officers' quarters of the Brigade. 'This operation, which resulted in the deaths of several officers of the brigade was carried out as a reprisal for the murderous troops under the by killings control of this brigade when they fired without provocation on unarmed civilians in Derry.

'Late reports that suggest civilians were also injured. Our intelligence reports were that no civilians frequent this part of the barracks. 'Any civilian casualties would be very much regretted as our target was the officers respon- the Derry outrages.' sible for (Signed J. J. McGarrity.)

The Officials' statement con- tradicts one which Press Asso- ciation claims to have received.

At 2.30 p.m. yesterday a man Kilburn battalion of from the the Provisionals' is supposed to have telephoned Press Associa- tion and said: 'We did the job at Aldershot and there is a lot more to come. This is retaliation for the Derry massacre.' 'is understood to have agreed available for the so far non- ipbuilders. This company is THIRTY Birmingham children were suspended from school this week because they were , according to 'too disruptive', Neil Scrimshaw, councillor chairman of the Birmingham schools sub-committee. Many were violent, either to their classmates or themselves, their teachers, councillor Scrim- shaw said. Mr Ron Cocking, a Birming- president ham headmaster and of the National Association of Schoolmasters, said his associa- tion was campaigning to reduce violence in classrooms. He called for more Outward Bound courses.

On February Il there was a disturbance at William Penn school, S London, when pupils were alleged to have broken one teacher's glasses and kicked another in the groin, in reaction to what they considered unfair treatment of one pupil. Earlier in the year, a group of boys from a school in Leeds invaded another school and a to have 27 schoolmaster had stitches in his neck. indications that in These are some parts of the big cities, the secondary schools are heading along the same path as some • York schools, which New are regularly patrolled by policemen and defence guards. Capitalism ofiers no future for in these schools, the youth having already written them off and relegated them to the dole and the punitive institutions.

And teachers-ill-prepared and under-paid — are shoved into schools, these expected to of 'respectable' enforce norms behaviour, and—in some cases- exposed serious physical to danger. Yet, some of these so-called 'uncontrollable' youth are now marching, in the most responsible and disciplined Young Socialists Right-to-Work march. This is the only answer for such youth. To turn their anger and frustrations into a planned, conscious struggle against the system that would destroy them.

FUND NEEDS

£384.02 IN

7 DAYS

THIS is the last week to clear £1,250 target of for our February's Fund. Our total stands at £865.98. Let's press on with a big effort and make sure we complete the total in good time.

As the Right-to-Work marches get nearer to London, more and more support is growing along the route. Trade unionists every- where are turning out to pledge warmest support and financial aid. More than ever, Workers Press must be used to mobilize this support to force this government to resign. Put all your support therefore behind our paper. Make this month a record for raising collections for our fund.

Add something extra yourself, if you can. Post every donation immediately to: Workers Press February Appeal Fund, 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 70G. militi