Workers Press no. 763

workers press

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER •

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMI

BY ALEX MITCHELL

THE TORY government yesterday launched a contemptible man the three rail unions. After a day tense with rumours about a c ballot, Maurice Macmillan, the Tory Employment Secretary, treacherous rejig of the Jarratt award.

It was the same formula which the three rail execu- tives rejected on Wednesday night. It proposes payment of the from £20-a-week minimum 1, but to withhold the May consequential increases from paid workers until the higher The unions are insist- Tune 5. that all workers should receive a settlement from May The designed to ctatement. split the unions, was clumsily read out that even Reg Prentice, Labour's spokesman on industrial questions, said was non- statement said. The government, he "appear to be only concerned to the maximum political capi- hardships of the tal out travelling public'. Mcmillan is specifically hoping hive white-collar union, the Transport and Salaried Staffs Association led by Percy Coldrick. ize plans for the Tory offensive.

Significantly it was Coldrick, Additional ministers Genera present who was first to comment: Solicitor were •Mv executive found the Geoffrey Howe, legal expert on the Act, and Transport Minister offer unacceptable last night, but willing have John Peyton, W who will be we are re- sponsible Satur- co-ordinating another look at it on day. special transport the services In event of a state of emergency.

The right-wing union has been the least militant and his Macmillan Commons statement Secret talks specifically offered the olive leadership branch to the

TSSA

said: when he am trying to British Rail chairman Richard help the lower paid without up- Marsh, a former Labour minister, setting the differentials.

then held talks with secret Macmillan the Board's In any case I have a statutory about consult

TSSA

plan to fight the work-to-rule.

obligation to the and the board and I would want The whole Labour movement to concult the other unions con.

rally to the defence of must cerned. face rail unions as tha they this Tory provocation. last night the work-to-rule went into The Tories divide the effect. will immediately may It bring middle class who live in the com- chaos and freight commuter muter belt, but not the working traffic. class prepared that is noW to The Cabinet went into emer- engage in a political fight to get them out of office. gency session vesterday to final- _ETTER • FRIDAY MAY 12, 1972 • No. 763 • 4p

L COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

ABOUT

50 demonstrators watched American many almost picketed police the cin Dassy in roncons urosvenot Square yesterday (see

BY JOHN SPENCER

against Nixon's block protesting SAIGON sent out call-up ade of North Vietnamese ports Organized by orders to all 18-year-olds studens ron the London School of Economies panic martial law the mainly American, as protesters, and shouted carried measures went into force placaras slogans telling US forces to in South Vietnam yester- Home'. day. One demonstrator, Nick Garner, was arrested for relusing to move President Thieu's crisis from the paveent opposite the regime also announced plans embassy. le manoeuvre to split to conscript 17-year-olds.

The ad hoc committee mayor ordered resi saigon s War and ut a court-controlled A mericans a mainst ne dents to dig trenches and pre

LSE

students plan further artillery attacks against pare for demonstration to the embassy at retary, announced a the cabilal э р.m. Loaay A government spokesman saic martial law woul mean tha all kinds of liberties must be Tesucted. The decree, outlawing strikes, litera- demonstrations, ture and unicensed weapons fears clear evgence that neu the cities following suffered by South

THE

Vietnamese forces at the battle

S FOP BOMBING

fronts. The government's military

SOREN

So TH deteriorating rapidly DOSIUOn

VIETNAM

on all three fronts. AT AN LOC, the besieged pro.

vincial capital north Saigor was fierce hand-to-hanc there fighting inside the towr liberation forces mounted a new attack. Highlands, SenOl adviser predicted a devastating attack Kontum within City said Kontum WeCK wolla be neavuy camagea by d massive assault from two North Vietnamese divisions in the next week South Vietnamese forces in the heavily outnumbered town are and have already been defeated in battles west or tne town MEANWHILE, in the far North around Hue, the South Vietna- still anticipating

LICOC

city b maor onsauzul onue liberation forces currently mop- the town's outlying ping up aCLCuCes

TOMORROW

SPECIAL FEATURES

A drawing of Angela Davis in Ford Motor Company plans to court, exclusive to Workers cut back on its British operation.

Angela Davis Trial: The Exclusive details A report from our own the correspondent at court in California

workers press

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER •

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMI

BY ALEX MITCHELL

THE TORY government yesterday launched a contemptible man the three rail unions. After a day tense with rumours about a c ballot, Maurice Macmillan, the Tory Employment Secretary, treacherous rejig of the Jarratt award.

It was the same formula which the three rail execu- tives rejected on Wednesday night. It proposes payment of the from £20-a-week minimal withhold May but to the 1. consequential from increases paid workers until the higher Tune 5. The unions are insist- ing that all workers should receive a settlement from May The designed to ctatement split the unions, was clumsily. read out that even Reg Prentice, Labour's spokesman on industrial • questions, said it was non- statement' said, The he government, be only concerned to 'appear to get the maximum political capi- hardships of the tal out of the travelling public'. Macmillan is specifically hoping to hive white-collar the rail Stan, the Tration Tend Sa Pered Association led Percy Coldrick. ize plans for the Tory offensive.

Significantly it was Coldrick, Additional ministers Generapresent to comment: who was first Solicitor were "My found the Geoffrey Howe legal expert on executive offer unacceptable last night. he Act. and Transpor Minister but willing have Tohn Peyton, w who will be we are re- sponsible co-ordinating another look at it on day? special the transport services in event of a state of emergency.

The right-wing union has been the least militant and in his Macmillan Commons statement Secret talks specifically offered the olive branch to the

TSSA

leadership said: when he am trying to British Rail chairman Richard help the lower paid without up- Marsh, a former Labour minister, setting the differentials.

then held talks with secret Macmillan the Board's In any case I have a statutory about consult plan to fight the work-to-rule.

obligation to the and the board and I would want The whole Labour movement to concult the other unione con.

rally to the defence of must cerned.' they face the rail unions as this Tory provocation. unit midnight last night the work-to-rule went into Tories divide effect. will immediately middle Tasses mive idivine the It bring chaos and freight muter belt, but not the working traffic. class that now prepared to The Cabinet went into engage in a political fight to get emer- gency session vesterday to final.

them out of office. _ETTER • FRIDAY MAY 12, 1972 • No. 763 • Ap

E COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

ABOUT

50 demonstrators watched almost many police picketed the hllcual in london's Grosvenot bmdassy Square yesterday (see below)

BY JOHN SPENCER

against Nixon's block. protesting SAIGON sent out call-up ade of North Vietnamese ports.

Organized orders to all 18-year-olds martial law the protesters, mainly American, as panic and measures went into force .Wred SHOuued slogans telling US forces to in South Vietnam yester- Home'. day. One demonstrator, Nick Garner, President Thieu's WANdNCEO CLIK O LUYe crisis from the pavement opposite the regime also announced plans embassy. le manoeuvre to split to conscript 17-year-olds.

ad hoc committee of The Saigon's mayor ordered resi- ut a court-controlled Americans Against The dents dig trenches and pre

LSE

students plan further artillery attacks against demonstration to pare IoI the embassy at retary, announced a calla > p.m. today. A government spokesman said martial law would mean kinds of liberties be hulusl restricted'. The decree, outlawing strikes, seditious litera- demonstrations, lue anu unuccnsca wedoons. fears Clear evidence that i nieu in the cities following suffered by soutr

1CYCISO

THE

Vietnamese forces at the battle.

STOP BOMBING

fronts. government's military 50.1fr deteriorating rapidly •OSILIOn

VIETNAM

on all three fronts. AT AN LOC, the • besieged pro capital vincial north fierce hand-to-hand

LICIC

W di nontine inside tres rowo liberation forces mounted a new attack. trai Highlands, a senior ens ouananos. seniol adviser predicted a devastating attack Kontum within не City said Kontum

WCCK.

woula de neavily damagec massive assault from two North Vietnamese divisions in the next week. South Vietnamese forces in the heavily outnumbered town are been defeated and have already in battles west of the town.

MRANWHIKR

in the far North around Hue, the South Vietna- still are anticipating hucsc major onslaught on the city bi liberation forces currently mop- the town's outlying ping up uc cuccs

TOMORROW

SPECIAL FEATURES

A drawing of Angela Davis in Ford Motor Company plans to court, exclusive to Workers cut back on its British operation.

ess The Angela Davis Trial: Exclusive details A report from our own the correspondent at court in California.

PAGE 2 Workers Pross, Friday May 12, 197

NO, MADAM,

I'M AFRAID THE

PRIME MINISTER

CAN'T SPARE THE

TIME TO APPEAR

AT YOUR

CONCERT-

AS THE deadline passed for outside the North Vietnam p issued a muted protest deman be lifted immediately. It described the US war moves as 'fraught with serious consequences for international peace and security, but did not mention President Nixon's forthcoming visit to Moscow for summit talks. The mines were set to operate from dusk yesterday

GMT).

American (noon bombers in unprecedented attacking strength have been rail and road links, industrial and harbour installations and the main towns of North Viet- nam. North Vietnam said yesterday it would sweep the mines out of Haiphong harbour and sink war- ships blockading its ports. It also promised to shoot down US planes over North Vietnam and fight on until final victory.

The Hanoi army Quan Doi Nhan Dan newspaper said that when the US 'sends its warships against our people, we will set ablaze and sink them. them When it has recourse to mines to block our harbours, we will sweep them all away ... Our people have sufficient determina- tion and strength to persevere in their just and certainly victorious struggle, if necessary for five or ten years or more ... By contrast with this fighting declaration, Moscow's reaction singularly muted. has been 'Pravda' simply stated that Nixon's decision to mine the har- bour 'reaffirms the undisguised aggressive acts signifying an aggravation of US interference in Vietnam and a violation of the norms of international law'.

The Soviet press anc radio noted the demonstrations and protests against Nixon's move MRS Winnie Mandela, wife of a former leader of the banned African National Congress, is to appear in court today charged with walking in a Johannesburg street. A banning order under South Africa's Suppression of Com- allows her no munism Act, visitors at her home except a doctor. She was arrested in a Johannesburg street on Wednes- lay 12, 1972

HE'S FAR

TOO BUSY

CONDUCTING

HIS OWN!

ed for activation of US mines tnam ports, the Soviet Union : demanding that the blockade almost without comment. Discus- sions in preparation for Nixon's visit to Moscow continued in a serious' 'straightforward and Washington, in atmosphere according to US sources. And there were reports from the Gulf of Tonkin that at least one Soviet ship had already turned back from the approach to Haiphong rather than run the US blockade. The Soviet Stalinist leaders are backing down without a fight in the face of Nixon's provocation.

Their capitulation can only en- courage the most bigoted 'hawks' of the Pentagon to further action aimed at crushing the Vietnamese revolution. By appeasing the Americans and continuing their detente with the leader of US imperialism, the Soviet leaders isolate the people of North Vietnam and increase the dangers of World War III.

At the talks with Nixon they agreement on nuclear hope for arms limitation. But such a deal with imperialism can only serve to camouflage the war-mongering activities of the American ruling class and hide the real dangers from the workers and peasants of the world. The mining of Haiphong and the blockade against North Viet- nam indicate that imperialism cannot be persuaded peacefully its drive to crush to abandon revolution throughout the world.

The Moscow leaders, following their Stalinist strategy of 'peace- ful co-existence', only open the road for new provocations and Vietnam in and aggression love throughout the world.

her brother-in-law, day with Peter Magubane. Their lawyer paid f50 for their release Mandela, Last month, Nelson is serving Mrs whose husband a life-sentence in the notorious Robben Island prison, won an appeal against conviction on two counts of breaking her banning orders by receiving visitors at her home. One of the visitors was Mr Magubane.

'NUTCRACKER

SUITE

BY A FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

THE QUEBEC town of Sept Iles (populati hands of the workers yesterday morning afi in which the local police were overpowered.

The three jailed leaders: Yvon Charbonneau (I) Louis Laberge and Marcel Pepin at a recent meeting in the Quebec province.

THREE

Communist Party MPs his conduct on his return to Ceylon. who voted against the Ceylon government on its Criminal Jus- Of the six Communist Party MPs in the government, only tice Commissions Bill last month Junior Education Minister B. Y. have been expelled from the Tudawe voted for the Bill. Hous- Pieter Kueneman coalition. Minister ing was in Singapore when the vote A fourth member, Dr S. A. was taken. abstained. Wickremasinghe, who The Bill established special would be 'dealt with' when his tribunals hear the of to cases by the explanation was received insurgents captured after young parliamentary chief whip, sources the JVP rebellion last year.

said. It has aroused great hostility Dr Wickremasinghe, currently in the Ceylon working class. The visiting Rumania and the Soviet tribunals down can hand sen- said he Union, has will explain life imprisonment tences which are not subject to appeal.

The normal rules of evidence do and apply prosecution witnesses cannot cross- examined by the defence. Mandela Mrs first was put under banning eight husband's The Communist Party has sup- after her ago years She arrested 1969 ported the 'rebel' MPs, though trial. was in and brought to trial the follow- general secretary Kueneman is the ing believed to want to stay in year. United Front coalition. The other The charges were withdrawn, she coalition parties, the renegade but she was rearrested as Lanka Sama Samaja left the court and spent another revisionist 17 months in Party Sirimavo prison before the and Mrs Banda- Freedom case was dismissed. She has been ranaike's Sri Lanka 'banned person' ever since.

Party, both voted for the Bill.

00 opulation 18,000) was in the ning after a night of fighting Canadian workers The erected barricades at all the access roads to the town and occupied the local radio station. They broadcast de- nunciations of Wednesday's court decision to jail three trade union leaders for defying an order to end a strike. Stores and schools in Sept Iles were closed as police reinforce- ments were flown into the town in Canadian Air Force trans- The reinforcements porters. were a 75-man 'emergency unit' of provincial police. The town was taken over after more than 1,000 demonstrators had clashed with about 100 anti- riot police in the centre of the community. During the clashes at least one worker was fatally injured. Thousands of other workers walked off their jobs throughout Quebec as the three trade union leaders began their one-year jail terms. The three, Marcel Pepin, president of the Confederation of National Trade Unions, Louis Laberge, president of the Quebec Federation of Labour, and Yvon Charbonneau, president of the Quebec Teachers' Group, were found guilty of contempt of court. They were to have in- cited trade unionists to disobey injunctions ordering the main- tainence of 'essential services' during an 11-day strike month by 200,000 • provincial public servants. The strike was finally ended by a court order under Canada's anti-union laws. The Canadian employers have set out to crush the militancy of the Quebec working class by depriving trade right to strike. Their action in imprisoning the three labour leaders has sparked a virtual General Strike throughout the province. In St Jerome, just north of Montreal, workers seized another radio station to broadcast against the government's action. The station was occupied for six hours before police stormed into it and ended the occupation.

A union spokesman said about 60,000 of 80,000 Quebec build- ing workers had already walked their jobs and the rest were expected to follow suit today.

Pupils call all-London strike Seaforth about turn: Little gained

FROM SARAH HANNIGAN

SCHOOLCHILDREN from N gathered near Speakers' Corr day to plan the next moves in caning and school uniforms.

Schools Action Union leader Steven Wilson, who was de- are tained by police during the march last Monday, read out a leatlet calling on pupils throughout London to strike on Wednesday, May 17. He said: 'Not only does the Inner London Education Authority think it can get away with ignoring our just demands, but it is also waging reac- tionary "counter-revolution"' This was shown by ILEA threats to send letters to over hoping 3,000 parents, organize them against their chil- dren. It is also shown by the suspension and other victimiza- tions carried out by the dictator- ship of the head,' he said.

Children at the meeting said that many pupils who had taken part in marches in the last week Above: A 13-year-old supporter of speaking to pupils (Top right) at Hyde Park, yesterday. The speaker n to London education headquarters He waiked out of the meeting protes 'getting them nowhere'. IN AN astonishing about- turn, docks shop stewards at Liverpool have lifted the black on the giant Seaforth container terminal. The first ship into the £50m berth was the Ellerman Line's "Tagus' carrying fruit and wine from Portugal. Within an hour it was un- Brimyard, loaded. Mr George managıng director of the Mersey Harbour Company, Docks and met the 1,578-ton ship to stage an unofficial opening. Wednesday's official opening was postponed because of militant action taken by a mass meeting of dockers last Sunday. On the recommendation of the shop stewards' committee, the men decided to handle no ships at Seaforth pending an agreement on wages and conditions. included a These 35-hour working week, an increase in the basic wage, increases in both pay and pensions and sick stuffing and assurances on stripping of containers. the blacking announcing decision, joint chairman of the shop stewards' committee Jimmy Symes, said: "The port employers are trying to get us into Seaforth without agreement. Our claim was an placed before them last January from North and West London rs' Corner, Hyde Park, yester- loves in their campaign against are now facing expulsion threats.

Three 14-year-old girls from Sarah Siddons school, West Lon- don, were detained by police after a march on Wednesday.

MILITANT grammar school boys in Lancashire claimed yesterday that their headmaster had broken an 'agreement' with their sixth- form union over the length of pupils' hair. Many of the 300 fifth and sixth-formers at King Edward VIl Grammar Schol, Lytham St.

Anne's, have pledged to disobey orders to get their hair cut.

They are threatening to work- to-rule'-by sitting-in after morn- ing assembly and boycotting their sports day and a charity walk for school funds-if any boy is suspended. One boy said 20 pupils had been threatened with suspension if they did not have haircuts.

porter of the Schools Action Union right) at London's Speakers Corner, speaker was a leader of the delegation dquarters at County Hall last Tuesday.

ing protesting that the discussions were

BY AN INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT

and nothing has been done about it. We now want to make them realize they have an obligation to us. If the employers come out with the right announcement, everything will be all right.'

Three days of talks then commenced. But from the brief statement issued on Wednesday, there is little justification for saying it is the 'right announce- ment'. Of the six demands made last Sunday only one was met... and that is pretty half-hearted.

'Discussions' place will take 'immediately' with a view to the introduction of a 35-hour work- ing week for implementation in the last quarter of this year!

It was 'concession On the basis of this that the Seaforth black was lifted by Symes and company. The capitalist press was rub- bing its hands with glee yester- day. Writing in "The Guardian', Geoffrey Whiteley said: 'The dockers' leaders, how- ever, have not emerged with any dramatic gains from the conflict.

The dispute has produced no immediate improvement in pay and the promises packets are little more than those which might have been expected from

BY IAN YEATS

THE DEAL about to be signed between Com- munist Party shop stewards and the US Marathon Manufacturing Co., at Glasgow's Clyde- bank shipyard is a total betrayal. • It deprives the workforce of their basic right to strike over a period of four years. • It includes no guarantee against redundancies and Con- cedes there will have to be a considerable changeover in the existing labour force to provide the skills Marathon will need.

• It agrees to the bulldozing of Clydebank's east yard taking the Stalinists back on their promise to maintain the yard as a ship- building unit. On Wednesday Stalinist shop stewards were 'very happy' after a day of talks with Marathon.

Clydebank convenor James Reid told the press: 'We have established a frame- normal negotiation over the next few months.' Lew Lloyd, Transport and General Workers' Union docks district secretary, said that although the ban on the terminal was lifted, the blacking of the three haulage firms still remains in force. The firms-Heatons Transport (St Helens) Limited, Bishop's Wharf of Warrington and Crad- dock Brothers of Wolver- hampton-have taken the union to the National Industrial Rela- tions Court. 'Our priority is the right to work and the protection of jobs,' Lloyd added. MEANWHILE in London, Southern Stevedores has an- nounced that — despite parlia- mentary protests— their docks will close next month. At a private meeting between docks officials and management on Wednesday, terminal payments of £300 for each man were negotiated. When the docks close on June 3, as many as 1,250 dockers and tally clerks face dismissal.

As in Liverpool, the leadership in the sell-out at the Royal docks has been Communist Party members. Workers Pre work for negotiations and there are no snags.' Trouble had been expected by outside observers over the Texas oil-rig firm's insistence on a legally-binding, four-year, no- strike agréement. But Marathon's senior vice- president Eldon Nuss said yesterday: It is our understanding there legal and binding agree- are no ments in the United Kingdom.

We think that our labour agree- ment will be such that it will be honoured by the unions and it will be written in such a manner that they absolutely will honour it and we will have four years of continuous work' The shop stewards have told Nuss that there will be no strikes in the yard unless dispute pro- cedure has been fully exhausted— giving Marathon thus the guarantee they have looked for since first entering the venture.

The Stalinists are pinning their Since the Southern Stevedores a month ago, announcement there has been no campaign organized by the Stalinist leader- ship to protect the jobs of Royal dockers. No wonder a Workers Press reporter was barred from a recent meeting on the question.

The steward who threw our reporter out said that the capi- talist press would be allowed in 'but not the Workers Press'.

James Reid and his cronies at UCS tried the same stunt last year during the early stages of the Clydeside treachery. The far. great protest SO mounted by the Stalinists has been a deputation to the House of Commons to see a local MP.

He is Sir Elwyn Jones, a former Solicitor-General in the Wilson and a determined government, right winger. Jones took • a delegation of MPs to see a Tory minister with sympathetic ear — Robin a Chichester Clark, new minister of state under Maurice Mac- millan. Chichester Clark, an Ulster Unionist, is the brother of the former right-wing premier of Ulster. What hope did Chichester- Clark hold out? He said that he .. with would take the matter up Macmillan. orkers Press, Friday May 12, 1972 PAGE 3 faith on escalation and compara- in the long-term bility clauses contract which they have obviously given Marathon very good reason to assume they will honour. Nuss said after Wednesday's talks: 'It has been a very good day. There has not been a grave area of dispute and I do not see any obstacle to arriving at a mutually satisfactory agreement.'

But he made it clear that the deal the Stalinists are about to sign includes no firm promise on redundancies. All the agreement committed 'was to try to em- Marathon to ploy as many as possible of the 2,200 workers still at the yard'.

'We are going to make every effort we can to retain as many people as we can. We have always said we will have at least 2,000', said Nuss. Not only are the Stalinists about to sign away the basic right of labour to strike, they are also about to concede the in- evitability of hundreds more re- dundancies on top of the 900 jobs already lost in the ten months since the 'work-in' fraud began. A private report circulated by the stewards at Clydebank con- firms the view that Marathon.

intends to sack the entire labour force and then pick and choose who it re-hires. The report says that when into Marathon finally goes business on July 24, the com- pany will employ only 1,000 men, taking on a further 1,000 over a period of eight months. There can only be one point of this hiring-and-firing procedure.

It must be to allow Marathon to take on men with skills other than those of workers presently employed. In other words the Stalinists are giving their blessing not just 200 or 300 redundancies surplus to the 2,000 Marathon say they need, but also to massive sackings among the existing work- force. Hundreds will be permanently consigned to the dole and many of those re-hired could spend between six and eight months unemployed. Significantly, point l2 of the shop stewards' report on the subjects for negotiation with Marathon is—redundancy As for the Stalinists other major promise to maintain all four yards intact and as a ship- building unit, the report admits that Clydebank's east yard is to be razed to the ground and onl the west yard modernized for oil- rig production.

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Friday May 12, 11 Have you read the Draft Man the national conference at Bir views on the document in a l The Manifesto calls for the t a revolutionary party. This | understood throughout the v students, the unemployed and their views on the Manifesto.

If you want a copy of the Dra your local ATUA branch. Tor festo discussion.

GEORGE LUBY

A 36-ycar-old_postman, Leeds No 1 branch UPW. The Charter of Basic Rights should be read and understood by the entire working class, understood for what they are— the basic rights of the working class, not to be begged for, but theirs : by right. Now that the Industrial Re- lations Act is being implemented, every right that has been won by years of bitter struggle is now 1n jeoparay. We must get this message across to every working-class person in the land. The capitalist radio and television and Fleet St press barons won't do it and the reformist TUC de- finitely will not. So the burden is squarely on our shoulders.

The bureaucrats in the TUC really welcomed the Act. It gave them the opportunity to smash any rank-and-file militancy. These same leaders are heading off the revolutionary situations that are developing at an ever-increasing rate.

REVOLUTIONARY

Have you read the Draft Manifesto adopted by the All Trades Unions Alliance at the national conference at Birmingham last November? Have you expressed your views on the document in a letter to the Workers Press?

The Manifesto calls for the transformation of the Socialist Labour League into a revolutionary party. This historic and vital task must be fully discussed and understood throughout the workers' movement: trade unionists, their families, students, the unemployed and people in the professions are invited to express If you want a copy of the Draft Manifesto write to the Workers Press or contact your local ATUA branch. Today we present further correspondence in the Mani- Capitalism has totally failed throes. But the TUC-instead of con- fronting the Tories -are openly collaborating the Will ThaT seeking to Ten en and thus the entire working Capitalism's only class. of survival chance the working class and make them pay for its bankruptcy. This Tory government breed-the new

MOOST

anti-working class country seen. Any has ever who voted with the lories Common Market. when ther The rid Labour Party. out of the LnTOwN The Jenkinsites should join the anti-working-class cle cant allow where hey belong. these cass cora•onlon. so-called Labourites shall one day have to answer for their belayal. their The retormist Uc.oi defeatist attitude over the Act, are causing widespread confusion anu Irusulalon Illally trade unionists who are asking • All Trades Unions Alliance at nber? Have you expressed your s Press? e Socialist Labour League into • the Workers Press or contact er correspondence in the Mani- themselves: 'What's the use of unions if courts controlled by the Tories are to determine our wage claims?' This question is now being asked by UPW members. Jackson accepted on our behalf, with no authority from the membership, an 8 per cent increase inside the government norm. In fact, under an agreement signed last year, new recruits to the Post Office work at £l below full rate for a year, and postmen promoted to Postman Higher Grade do a full on the lower rate before year getting on to the promoted rate.

In other words, some sections of Post Ofice staff are payıng back part of the wage increase already. Trade unionists are experienc- ing betrayal after betrayal. This must be checked by a united confrontation of the unions against the Tories, to get rid of them and their Industrial Re- lations Act. Don't let's have any clap-trap about the Labour Party repealing it. Weren't they the very people who instigated it? The only way to get rid of it is to force the TUC to call a General Strike.

I fear if this is not done; frustrated trade unionists will be resigning in large numbers, thus resulting further weakening of the unions and the working class. What right have a gang of monopolists and bankers to take into the Common Market uS against the wishes of the majority of the people? The conspiracy of the EEC monopolists can only work against the interests of the working class, leading mass redundancies. Whole dustries will close down or move into places where labour is cheap, like Portugal. Feather and his reformists had it in their power to kill the Act stone dead. They now move 'not recognizing' from it to instructing ; unions to attend its courts! Isn't this a betrayal of the trade union movement and the entire working class? The TUC must get off the defensive and onto the offensive. The Tories are playing their usual game of divide and rule by stating that the public wants the Industrial Relations Act. Are we 10 million trade unionists not members of the public? The only organization leading the fight against this illegal Socialist the government iS Labour League. Its daily paper Workers Press exposes all the reformists in the Labour Party and the treacherous Stalinists in the trade union hierarchy, who time and time again mislead the working class. The Draft Manifesto should be adopted by all trade unionists.

The All Trades Unions Alliance will fight in every struggle. The only way forward for the work- ing class is to build the revolu- tionary party under the prin- cipled Marxist leadership of the Socialist Labour League.

KEVIN DEAN

A 24-year-old AUEW member, he is taking part in the occupa- tion of the Hoe-Crabtree factory in Leeds. In this article he dis- cusses the Draft Manifesto for transforming the Socialist Labour League into a revolutionary party.

We started work-to-rule on a Monday, April 17. Then six fitters were suspended because they demanded a slinger with a crane, so we all downed tools to get them reinstated. The man- suspended the entire agement work force, though they later hadn't sus- claimed that they pended us and that we'd gone on strike. Every worker has received a letter saying that his job is still it implies open, and that the fitters suspended will be re- instated as well, but now we're staying out for a settlement on wages. We've received no the offer from the management and we've imposed a 24-hour occupa- tion of the factory. • Basic Rights is The Charter of correct, these are the basic rights we've got to defend. You make the point about not being opposed technological to advances as such, but having to defend jobs. But under this system technological advance is leading to mass unemployment.

I can see us being back in the Roman days, with mass spectacles being put on to keep the people We need to protect occupied. men-like the Liverpool dockers are doing. The Tories attack strikers as 'anarchists', slapping on a fine because men are struggling for their human conditions. A General Strike is necessary to bring down the Tory govern- ment. If we stay passive, some unions can lose their entire assets. Every strike could lead to the law courts and we're caught in a cycle. We've got to break through this cycle. What can we expect from the

NIRC?

There's no impartiality there. Then there's the council house rents. Ours is going up 50p in October and then another fl next year. Rents will be over £6 a week for a three-bedroomed house. So we are falling further behind. Until about three years ago we used to get an annual rise at Crabtree's of about 25s on the

CHRIS RIGG

Miner, Bentley Colliery, Yorks.

Capitalism is now in its death agony. To prolong its existence, it must set on a course of de- stroying trade unionism and driving the class to working conditions of starvation and dictatorship. The Tory government has set sail on this course and the weapons it has chosen to destroy the working class are the In- dustrial Relations Act and the present leadership of the TUC- in other words, reformism.

The trade union leaders have so far refused to put up any fight against this Tory govern- ment. Engineers оссиру their factory In Manchester and 'sit-in' In sup- port of their wage clalm and we got 19s basic rate knocked off the bonus—a net rise of 6s a week! struck for three Then we weeks and that year we got the full rise on the basic and only Since then 5s off the bonus. we've had the full 25s. But that's not enough now. It barely keeps up with the cost of living. I'm worse off in real wages than I was three years ago-and I've got two children now. There's no doubt in my mind the engineers have got to win this claim.

'Basic right' number four—the right to higher standard of a living - is important. We are tired of struggling to stay where we are. A man goes to work to improve his standard of living, not to stand still. You are calling for a Labour government with socialist poli- cies and that would be fine. But there's a lot of doubt around about Labour a government because of its policies last time.

When the Labour government anti-union tried to bring in legislation, it disillusioned a lot of workers. The leaders were heading in the same direction as the Industrial Relations Act.

But where did the Labour Party come from? From the unions. The Labour leaders were slapping in the face the very who built the Labour people Party. There's no doubt that everyone at our place wants to get rid of the Tories. But it's not enough to trust the Labour leaders. Ever since I've been interested in politics, they've never kept their promises than the any more Tories have. The working class will have force socialist to policies on them. Jenkins and his friends saved the Tory government and now that government is using the law against the dockers and the rail- waymen. A strong line should have been taken against Jenkins —but Wilson didn't do this, he seemed to be condoning , their action. They've certainly lost sight of . the people who put them where they are. Finally, I'd like to pledge my support to the Socialist Labour League and to the revolutionary party that's going to be launched this year. The working class is beginning break to from this reformist trade union leadership. The dockers have refused to lift their blacking of container lorries despite orders from the T&GWU.

This could mark a turning point in the thinking of the working class. There can be no compromise in a time of crisis. We must build up the revolutionary party and not be distracted from this important task. It is a clear-cut issue facing the working class: either go forward to socialism or back to fascism and the eventual third world war.

A delegation of British businessmen arrives in Sofia this week with a view to expanding trade with the People's Repub- lic' of Bulgaria. will Bulgarian officials be waiting for them with a list of business propositions to their all pockel-books political considerations apart.

With nothing spared on the bureaucracy expense accounts, some mutually- profitable deals are expected, with the full blessing of the Department Trade of and Industry. Trade will have to be fitted needs current Five-Year Plan, but no doubt a little stretching will be

FRANCE

Wendel-Sidelor, the giant French steel combine, may be forced to make drastic alterations in its plans for a new factory the Mediterranean on near Marseilles. Shortage of resulting cash from heavy losses in the last year is the reason for the pro- posed cut-backs, announced last week by Wendel's man- aging director Jean Gandois. In preparation for building the new seaside factory Wendel-Sidelor has already condemned most of its existing in the. Lorraine slee cabalıly close German area border.

CLOSURES

The cłosures Lorraine: in are likely to make it the most depressed France. It T area in sh done if expediency demands.

Like other East European countries which have been industries, building up their Bulgaria needs to sell abroad a larger volume of manufactured goods than in the past. This the world that means on market they come into direct competition with the capitalist countries in terms of price and quality. The Bulgarians and the other East European countries are thus turning in all directions to do barter deals - with Franco Spain, the colonels' Greece, Brazil, the political regime does not matter. Greater interest is being taken in the Common Market because it is seen as a possible field for increased trade. has already been badly hit by a series of pit closures. The Mediterranean factory situated at Fos-sur-Mer which is intended to become the centre of a new industrial complex-was planned before full depth of the inter- the national economic recession hit the European steel industry.

The latest financial returns for 1971, however, show that the Wendel group • - which includes the Sollac, Sacilor and Richemont companies — made no profits at all. In fact the group was forced to dip into its reserves to the tune of 200m francs. By contrast, in 1971, the company made a gross profit of 90m francs. According to Gandois, 1972 could be just as bad as 1971, in view of the 'bad state of selling prices at the beginning of the year' This gives • Wendel-Sidelor a •slim chance of finding the necessary cash for its share of the cost of Fossar Mer. The the complexits It" first stage. of bulgarian loaders, old and nore.

Contre poster shows the late Georg! Dimitrov. On the right la Zhkon, precone CP chial If the British businessmen want to increase their sales in Bulgaria, they will have to be ready to buy the manufactured goods which the Bulgarians are anxious to sell. These include machinery and machine tools, electrical equipment and agri- cultural machinery. The need to export makes the Bulgarians, like the Russians, turn to the Common Market more readily than in the past. Otherwise the execu- tives in Sofia will turn to the other capitalist countries which have been more ready to do business than the British.

due to cost 7,000m francs- borne equally • by Wendel- Sidelor, by loans from the government, and by a syndi- foreign cate of French and banks. The company has to find at least 1,000m francs over the next two years and with its present profit levels the group will be unable to pay this sum without cutting back its cur- rent plans to modernize its remaining factories in the Lorraine. This makes nonsense of French government plans to modernize the steel industry in order to compete on a firmer footing within the Common Market. It will also come as a shock to the Kremlin, for Wen- dei-sidelor nas placed very large orders in "the" Spriet: Union for the Fos plant

CHILE POET

SILENT ON

SOLZHENITSYN

Pablo Neruda, veteran Chilean Stalinist, Chilean ambassador in Paris, and international poet, is well known for the odes to Stalin he composed dur- ing the purges of the Bolshevik leadership by his hero in the 1930s. In 1971 Neruda was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, with the full backing of Mos- cow and the world Soviet Press. When the persecuted Solzhenitsyn novelist awarded Nobel Prize, the same prize suddenly became a deadly weapon of imperialism.

Solzhenitsyn deplored the Nobel attacks the Prize, adding that 'those attacks the figure Collel Pablo Neruda'.

JAPAN

SHIP

SLUMP

Two of Japan's largest shipbuilders have cut their dividends to share- in holders preliminary financial just reports released. The firms Ishikawa- die Harima Heavy Industries Kokan : (1H1). and Nippon between them who ptoduce a large percentage of: rkers Press, Friday May 12, 1972 PAGE 5 True to Stalinist form, Neruda has refused , to speak up in defence of Solzhenitsyn.

At the end of a recent visit to the United States he made the following statement about the Russian novelist's remarks: have no intention of becoming an instrument of anti-Soviet propaganda. All this controversy has become very boring and we must allow some time to pass before we pass judgements; it is always better to analyse facts with a certain perspective.' During his visit to the USA —his first for six years— Neruda devoted a fair amount of time to his favourite hobbies: collecting rare stamps with marine subjects and visiting bookshops. Author Solzhenitsyn: Neruda re- fuses to speak for his defence Japan's new tonnage. The decision to cut divi- dends reflects the recession which is hitting world ship- building. IHI cut their dividend by 2 per cent' to 10 per cent per annum and NKK announced a similar cut of 2 per cent to 8 per cent per annum. IHI said the cut was brought about by three main factors- an unexpectedly heavy loss due to revaluation of the yen last December, and the subsequent steady rise in the value of the yen; the likelihood of another yen revaluation, perhaps by the end of this year; and the lag in recovery of demand for non- marine machinery. The company said that they would be 'substantially in the red' in the latest reporting period, and that their foreign exchange losses would reach 80,000m yen if doller revenues into yen at the

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Friday May 12, 1972 On September 21, 1945, an extraordinary meeting of the board of directors of the Ford Motor Company was held in Detroit. Three members of the Ford family were present-the founder, Henry Ford, who and his grandson, was in his dotage, his daughter 28-year-old Henry Ford II. It was a tense meeting.

One of the directors had a short-barrelled .38 con- The old man read out his cealed under his coat. and Henry Il was elected president to resignation fill his place. As the decision was taken two directors stormed out—and pulled pistols on each other in an their tempers cooled and adjoining room. However, nobody was shot. Meanwhile, the new president got on with the job of cleaning out some of the 'dead wood' among his executives. Ford went down to one department, found the door locked, grabbed a crow.

bar and smashed it open. The production manager was then fired. The incident established a style which has characterized Ford's running of his world-wide car monopoly.

BY ALEX MITCHELL

carefully watched the walk-out at Dagenham when two men were ordered off the line in the body shop. The management's surprise decision attack manning from caused a sharp backlash. With- Just over a year ago the production workers. Henry Ford II in hours several thousand men (right) dispute were laid off in the of arrived a tour on which lasted almost a week.

inspection of his British The moves in this microcosmic outpost. Within hours of row were studied in detail by the visiting Americans. his arrival he told the The reaction of the men will press he didn't like what when be taken into account the wage negotiations begin in he found. a couple of months' time—six problems, he said, 'Labour the two-year months betore 'increasingly becoming agreement expires. difficult'. The annual accounts will set And he went on: 'I wasn't out to blame last year's big said bluffing either when strike for the disastrous losses.

would else- Ford's re-invest The strike, however, tells only We can't recommend where. of the story. It has side one any more capital investment in now become a scapegoat for a constantly dogged country of management myriad moves with labour problems. which have been costly to the confronted his When he company's operations. directors in the board British Marketing has been particu- room 'he blew up like a bull larly Before the strike, poor. with a sore head', someone re- Ford's held 28 per cent of the market, but their share is now return to America On his Although 24 only per cent. authorized that no fresh he only 4 per cent is involved, investment be made in Britain this means millions of pounds until 1976. This decision was in terms of sales. (The Granada deliberately designed to model doing much better is the British operation into the than expected, but the sales ground. too late to affect last Canne To carry Ford teeds fithless year's figures.) needs further policy, Another department which ammunition. And he will re- has conspicuously failed to ceive this in a few days' time assist the company's embattled publication of the with the purchasing finances is the British subsidiary's annual group. report. This department's job is to The report will reveal that buy components from the big the Ford company made stag- suppliers at the best possible losses of £30m last gering The bonuses paid to price; are will year. announcement executives who achieve the hasten Ford's plans to 'ration- neat deals. European whole alize' operation-to the detriment of the British sector. For Ford workers, the the future is redundancies, tougher pro- ductivity and the closing down of parts of the network in this It is a little-recognized fact in favour of cheaper country other that the Ford company only production facilities in 25 of parts of the world. makes per cent its vehicles-the body, the engine of five executives A team from the Ford headquarters at and the transmission. The Detroit, are now in other paris—wheels, Dearborn, Britain drawing the plans. brakes, seats, windscreens, up They have spent the past six batteries, etc-are bought from each outside firms. weeks touring plant taking stock of the company These suppliers, like Pilking- Lucas's, Girling's and structure and labour relations.

ton's, GKN, wield a strong influence One of their particular hob- over the fortunes of the Ford bies is to study shop-floor mili- Four tancy. weeks they ago group. Ford's is unable to place orders elsewhere in sufficient quantities. In that sense they the profits- are dependent on drive of the local firms.

The cornerstone of Ford's policy today remains, however, to build up capacity in West of at the expense Germany be seen in This can Britain. quiet removal of sub- the stantial plant from Halewood to Saarlouis. on the Franco- German border. The build-up in the produc- tion of transmissions at Saar- louis thus becomes a threat to the whole 11,000 workforce at Halewood. As one company 'insider' told Workers Press: •We want the situation where we have absolute flexibility-if Halewood goes on strike we can simply step up production in Saarlouis. 'And if they go on strike too long, we can cut our losses and close the whole bloody thing:" The reason for locațing the main operation in West Germany is based primarily on the greater capitalization which Ford's has undertaken in that country. that production It means cheaper than in per unit is Britain. Added to this, profit incentive is the extraordinary status of car unions in West Germany. Since 1968 the com- pany has reached a uniformity in production to ailow for this rapid de-escalation of British production and the strengthen- of the West German ing subsidiary. There has been, for instance, a complete standardization in the production of the last four Capri, main models-Escort, Cortina and • Granada. The fact that Ford's is a big backer of Britain's entry into the Common Market isn't surprising. It will legalize a monopoly position which they have been busily creating in West Europe for some years.

The fate of tens of thous- ands of British car workers will be known when the five wise men return to Dearborn in Ohio. if Henry Ford II is still feeling the way he did 12 months ago, the decisions he will make are a foregone con- clusion.

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Friday May 12, 1!

Pages from Railway History 1 Part two Skilled railway. workers first became unionized grade by grade in 1865- 1866 as a defence against the low pay and excessive hours typical of the early years of unfettered capi- talist exploitation and particularly severe in years of slump. parliamentary In 1839 a l select committee had found com- that railway owners manded obedience from their servants by dismissing them and for three demeanours committing them to the tread- mill for withdrawing their labour. The engine drivers and fire- men set up a friendly society in the same year, but little unions during was heard the railway boom of the 1840s until after the Great and Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1850. The setting up of three clerks, railway unions for guards, signalmen and switch- engine drivers in men 1865-1866 coincided with years of severe slump resulting in savage staff cut-backs, low pay and longer hours imposed by the railway com- panies. The companies easily de- sectionalized feated these unions by taking on one grade at a time. Five years later, groups of railwaymen 200 strong met in People's Halls and the smoke- filled back rooms of public houses in towns from Leeds to to discuss how to London strengthen their hand against the companies. They decided to band together in the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, finally registered on March 2, 1872. The railwaymen's claim that they were overworked if not that they were underpaid fell on sympathetic liberal ears alarmed by the high level of accidents which, of course, en- dangered passengers as well as staff. the brewer, M. T. Bass, argued for shorter hours, and the society's first president, Canon Jenkins, was said to faith in the have naive identity of interests of masters and men'. His successor in 1877, P. S. MacLiver was actually a wealthy railway shareholder - although, of course, with his heart in the right place. All this 'liberal' support was soon to evaporate when at the peak of the Great Depression, men were worked over 100 hours a week with no extra pay for overtime and as a result were forced to consider extreme measures. In 1876, when the railway companies were hellbent on trying to grab back • conces- sione given in the boom year of 2872; the ASRS was at first torresists becäuse of of trikes f a: May 12, 1972 istory 1839-1972 by Ian Yeats.

decision greatly favoured by its middle-class supporters.

Eight hundred goods guards, who struck on May 18, 1876, because the Midland Rail Co.

ended overtime pay for had Sunday forced work, were back after two days because the union refused to give strike pay-there was little consolation in the fact that the ASRS executive committee passed a resolution condemn- ing the company's attitude.

1879 was a decisive year for the ASRS. MacLiver and other so-called middle-class friends of the union forcefully 'deprecated' the move to set strike fund. Engineers a and firemen, fed up with the union's grovelling and so far disastrous milk - and - water policy, broke away to set up a new union-the Amalga- mated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (now

ASLEF).

The strike fund was set up 'persuasion in 1880, but the and permeation' policies which had dominated the ASRS for over two decades were not to be broken easily and the nine- hour day campaign. of 1882 consisted once again of no • ferocious an act than more sending memos to the em- ployers. It even worse was an failure than anything previous and general secretary Fred Evans talked of shutting the union down altogether. Mem- bership slumped from had 17,247 in 1872 to 6,000 a decade later. upsurge of general The unionism, particularly among boosted dockers 26,360. the lesson of the But dockers, gasworkers and matchgirls was learnt primarily by the unskilled railway workers who promptly organ- ized themselves into General Railwayworkers' Union with 10,000 members in under a year. inaugural Its resolution sharply differentiated the GRWU from the friendly society approach of the ASRS.

The resolution said that 'the union shall remain a fighting one and shall not be encum- millloonire ofter hoürs

R.T.RICE

C.. Top: the Winchester Arms, Southwark, derailment of 'Flying Dutchman' 1876- to prevent accidents led to the foundin bered by any sick or accident fund'. The GRWU was as good as of its word. The number strikes leapt from four in 1889 to 17 in 1890 and the union fought on a nationwide all- grades programme. GRWU's The militancy coupled with the employers' offensive of 1896, spurred the ASRS rank and file to demand an all-grades campaign of their own aimed at a pay rise and shorter hours. The railway companies dug in. More than that, they sacked any man who said he would back the union if it called a strike. Successive electoral law reforms had given the vote to the working class specitically to avoid the disruptive confrontations the railway companies were pro- moting. government and the The press had no difficulty in sid- ing with the ASRS and Board of Trade President, C. T.

Ritchie, persuaded the com- panies to reinstate 85 sacked men in return for a promise from the union that 'no strike was intended'. But the com- panies made no offer on pay or hours and what had begun as a campaign to improve both of these ended agra desperate baltse tide rearguard action to of discrimination?%

BARCL

STO

A B

ZUI

outhwark, where the first meetings of the an' 1876—the campalgn for shorter hours and e founding of the ASRS When in 1897 la wave of prosperity' hit British business the railway companies granted minimum concessions on pay and hours. They were sufficient to con- vince the ASRS leaders that nothing would be gained by militancy. When an unofficial strike broke out at Newcastle on the North East railway on Febru- ary 24, 1897, general secre- tary Edward Harford caught the last train up there to fix a : 'public settlement. He feared opinion would be alienated' and 'the national programmes jeopardized'. Not surprisingly the govern- opposed to strikes ment was and calling officially one would have almost certainly invoked action in the courts.

When the ASRS looked like threatening militancy in December 1897 the govern- ment was prompt to point out that strike would conflict with their rights under the Hours of Labour Act of 1893. The government had every- thing to gain from leaning on railway companies to recognize the union — which they had still not done-as a means of getting industrial re- lations on a cosy family. basis. it came to strikes. when firm and indelible a ASRS were held. Above: the hours and improved working conditions And the ASRS had no in- tention of crossing it. The union's historian, PhilipS. Bagwell, notes: "At the end of 1879 the companies could that congratulate themselves enjoyed they had a large measure of success in meeting the challenge of the all grades programme'. Bagwell is a master of understatement. After 30 years of trade union activity, in 1897 the ASRS had still to win even one single concession when the rail companies put up even token resistance.

Yet on the eve of the new century in 1899, acting general secretary Richard Bell-to be virtually drummed out of the union ten years later for ex- cessive government sympathy —told the annual general meeting at Leeds that there great improvement in was the union's position. He could only have meant in terms of hard cash. If the number of claims on the ASRS protection fund had fallen from nine months 1898 to 29 in October 1899 this was more a measure of the dramatic de- cline in militancy and dis- _the leader- illustonment with shịp than a tribute to the union't victories.

CONLEYUED TOMORROW

BY GUEST REVIEWER, TIM HO

You probably haven't heard anything about this talist press follows the practice of ignoring all supporting features, regardless of quality. So if what is said here persuades you that 'My Old Man's Place' may be worth seeing, you'll have to keep an the posters to find out eye on when it is coming to your area. The American B feature has up work regularly thrown which is years ahead of its time aesthetically and much more honest and straight- forwardly expressive in its content than the well- publicized main features.

Many directors came from apprenticeships in this part of the industry (among them Don director of Dirty Siegel, Harry) and learnt through struggle how to express com- plex ideas simply and how to distinguish between the essen- tial and inessential aspects of a story. Because of this need to find ways of getting round the problems of a tight budget, a shooting short schedule, mediocre scripting and acting, film-makers and SO on, developed distinctive styles which, when they later moved films, on to making bigger stood them in good stead.

It was B features such as 'They Live By Night' (Nicholas 'Baby Face Nelson' Ray) and (Siegel) which paved the way for the more realistic thrillers and gangster films which were to characterize the 1960s.

Also their elliptical way of handling narrative created a kind of poetry which was to surtace in main teatures on t then in the French cinema of the 'New Wave' (the first films

TIM HORROCKS

of such directors as Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut).

They Live By Night' remains superior blueprint 'Bonnie and Clyde', and 'Build High' (Jacques My Gallows Tourneur) the negation much that is good in such romantic French films as Le Fou' and Jules 'Pierrot And Jim', , with their obsession with the femme fatale. This is not to say that B producing a features were greater percentage of outstand- ing films than main features- the point is that the best of them were pointing the way to new developments in cinema and creating a kind of text- book of stylistic experimenta- 'under- tion. The modern ground' cinema has failed so far to match the adventurous- ness of this cheap Hollywood cinema. 'My Old Man's Place' has enough content for three films -so much so that I found myself longing, at times, for a bit of light relief. The story is of three soldiers who return from the Vietnam war, spend a day in San Francisco trying unsuccessfully to pick up girls, then go north to a farm owned by the father of one of them.

through There they go a series of extraordinary experi- ences in which brutality, rape and other degenerations fight with the desire to escape the "build something and war beautiful'. These scenes represent the most moving and thought- provoking comment on the Vietnam war yet to come out of the American feature industry. The ideology of the film is rather hard to pin down. It certainly isn't liberal - the young girl student who 'repre- sents' liberal protest ends the film helplessly weeping in the middle of a thunderstorm, her idealism completely under- mined by events. Top: a scene from 'My Old Man's Place' It could perhaps be called that the nihilistic, except rather backward worker (one of the soldiers) emerges from the film with a good deal more credit than any of the others, and is one of those left alive at the end to (perhaps) try to tackle the problem in a different way. In a film such as this, which, more profoundly than anything else I have seen lately, fulfils to the letter Trotsky's dictum that 'art is a form of cogni- tion of the world not as a series of laws, but as a series of images, , it would be difficult to single out a scene for special attention. From the deceptive casual- ness of San Francisco scenes with the girls, through the beautiful car journey to the (as expressive of farm a physical and psychological movement from city to coun try and from claustrophobia to openness as the movement in the opposite direction Murnau's classic, 'Sunrise') to the frightening contradiction of violence among idyllic sur- roundings which characterizes the last half of the film, we , gradual crescendo of see power in the images which, by the time the last reel is under way, has us hanging on every word and movement of the and every element characters, of the film's imagery. The film is not faultless, precisely because there is too much content for the film's small-scale form to adequately cope with. Nevertheless direc- tor Edwin Sherin (has anybody heard of him?) has concen- trated into 85 short minutes more genuine feeling, more vital complexity, and more formal beauty than many films manage in three hours. His film deserves the highest praise and the widest possible audience. Workers Pres Not for the first time, the Soviet Union's plan to spend money in capitalist countries is proving to be very controver- sial. Take the plans to create a massive new property develop- in Sydney, Australia. ment Last week New South Wales New South Wales Tory premier, Sir Robert Askin, who went to Moscow for money to finance a redevelopment scheme premier Sir Robert Askin, a Tory, went to Moscow to arrange finance for the scheme.

The London-based Moscow Norodny Bank is a member of consortium which has drawn up plans to launch a £190m redevelopment in the Sydney suburb of Wooloo- mooloo. The scheme is being bitterly opposed by residents in the area. Wooloomooloo is the heart bearing the first ance; ships convicts to the colony landed orkers Press, Friday May 12, 1972 PAGE 9 nearby some of the buildings are earliest solid threatened by the property speculators. Many of the residents are working-class people who will be carted off cheap new housing on the city's perimeter, miles from their jobs. They have formed committees to stop the project going ahead, Moscow Narodny is believed to be keeping its association with the scheme as quiet as possible. More romantically - inclined workers passing through rural from Midlands Lincolnshire towns on their way to the sea- side at Skegness, Mablethorpe and Cleethorpes for their annual respite from wage- labour might easily draw the conclusion . that at least this 'agricultural backwater' is spared from the strangling tentacles of international monopoly capitalism. (see 'ITT: Tough job for the PR men' Workers Press, May 6, 1972.) Far from it! In 1969, North- ray, originally the largest of the farmer-owned companies in the frozen food business was taken over by Inter- national Telephone and Tele- graph (USA). They, together other food-processing with companies, such as Bird's Eye and Ross (a subsidiary of the giant Imperial Tobacco food, fags, etc. empire), control pea growing throughout Lincoln- shire, under contracts with farmers which stipulate to the minute when each acre is to be vined. In years when there's a good harvest, such as the last couple of years, thousands of have acres peas been ploughed back in order to prevent 'surplus production' and a price-cutting war between the monopolies. So next time peas are on the menu in 'bracing Skeggy' or you're fishing in the deep- market, spare a thought for freeze ITT's PR problems! Moscow Trials Anthology Paperback, 624р

MAX SHACHTMAN:

Behind The Moscow Trial Paperback 75p

ROBERT BLACK :

Stalinism In Britain Paperback £1.122—cloth £2

LEON TROTSKY :

Death Agony of Capitalism (The Transitional Programme) Pamphlet 5p Class Nature of the Soviet State Pamphlet 20p In Defence of the October Revolution Pamphlet 15p The Theory and Practice of Revisionism Pamphlet 15p Postage 10p per book, 3p per pamphlet. Order from :

NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS

186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG.

Fighting the Tories Rent Bill Mixed response by the reformists PAGE 10 Workers Pross, Friday May 12, 1972 THE LABOUR - controlled ago: 'We were not elected to carry out Tory policy.' Hammersmith Council, Lon- But housing committee chair- don, has decided to imple- man, Councillor lan Gray, said it ment the Tories' "fair-rents' would not be 'in the interests of Hammersmith Bill. tenants on a collision course with the Only two London boroughs government'. Camden and Waltham Forest- Manchester the Labour are refusing to introduce the council is examining 'loopholes' measure which will double many in the Bill to try and soften the council rents. £1-a-week rise in October.

Councillor Tony Powell led the He The Labourites are hoping to rebellion at Hammersmith.

told a stormy meeting two nights in the footsteps of the follow NINETY MEN employed by the Birmingham machine tool firm, Charles Taylor Limited,

FROM OUR OWN

'show planning a of are

CORRESPONDENT

strength' today in a bid to force the hand of manage- For the best on nor the ment over a wage claim. have four-day men men have meaning that unskilled The men have been on strike been taking home as for three defence of a weeks in little as £8 a week. demand for a f4 rise. They claim As picket said: 'We one are the management's only response captive labour in there. Seventy- has been tell them to reduce to five per cent of the men are over their standard of living!

50 years of age and if they were They are planning mass would be to leave there no picket by all the strikers at the chance of another job. It's either this fol- factory gates morning work here or go on the dole.'

lowed lunchtime by mass After three weeks of meeting. The strike has been tinuous picketing the manage- the endorsed by Amalgamated we the not here ac said god Union of Engineering Workers to here, which most of the belong. men steward George Lancaster.

But no strike pay has yet been There were rumours that the paid. directors were working the 'This must The company has been badly shop floor. be the hit the only factory in the country with by the recession in a £5,000-a-year labourer, said a machine-tool trade and cut, out all overtime a year ago. picket. The dally paper that ada the fight against the Tories. £20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) {10.14 for 6 months (156 Issues) £5.07 for 3 months (78 Issubs) If you want to take Workers Press twice a wook the rates are: £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) £6.24 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.

Days required

MONDAY

THURSDAY

(Please tick)

TUESDAY

FRIDAY

WEDNESDAY

SATURDAY

Or Full subscription (six days) for ...

months. Amount enclosed £ I would like information about Fill in the form below and send to NATIONAL

SECRETARY,

SOCIALIST

LABOUR

LEAGUE,

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

Name Address decision by Birmingham to apply to the government to have the increase cut to an average of 35p. Labour leader in Manchester, Sir Robert Thomas, said yester- day: 'Rents in Birmingham are generally higher than here. We might not be able to reduce the increase to 35p, but if we man- age to get it • to 50p it down would be far better than f1.!

The mood of the local tenants' associations in Manchester is at A MASS meeting of workers fr Sheffield, will be asked to reverse to abandon any action to prevent and taken from River Don to Fi The meeting will be held at Sheffield City Hall on Sunday morning. At last Monday night's meet- ing, staff stewards and stewards from the 'hot shops' voted against a resolution calling for 'human cordons' to be thrown around equipment to prevent its removal.

The management had threat- ened to close the plant if the men went ahead with this plan.

The plan to take equipment to privately-owned Firth Brown forms part of the Tory govern- ment's hive-off policy within the British Steel Corporation.

To date the drop forge has been sold off to Firth Brown.

enlarged The has company now won £2.4m worth of orders previously allocated to

BSC.

Firth Brown will also get their hands on the slag reduction unit.

Rumours are circulating that the company will also receive a file containing years of research work on techniques and pro- cesses developed by BSC. THE GOODYEAR tyre factory in Wolverhampton has laid off 4,000 workers because of a strike by 500 engineers. The engineers fighting for the national are claim. They began a work-to- rule on May 3 and then gave seven days' strike notice. A com- pany offer was rejected. ENGINEERING workers at Worthing Simpson, Newark, Notts, have rejected a man- agement pay offer of £2.50 and will continue with their five-week-old strike After a mass meeting on Wednesday, George Davis, Amalgamated Union of Engineer- Workers' district secretary ing said the men were more deter- mined than ever to win their claim for a substantial wage increase, shorter hours and longer holidays. He said the 24 hour picket was receiving full co-operation from lorry drivers. 'It has been the most effective picketing I have ever seen,' said. involving four The claim, unions, is part of the campaign by the Confederation of Ship- building and Engineering Unions for better pay, a 35-hour week and improved working conditions.

This was abandoned at national level last August and is now being fought out on a plant-by- plant basis. Production at Worthington Simpson, who make compressors and pumps, is at a standstill because of the dispute. said that labour Mr Davis relations at the plant began to deteriorate five years ago after disagreement Robert. completely opposed to any increase. in Salford, where Labour now has a two-to-one majority, the party, leader, Councillor Hough, said: 'We are examining the situation as quickly as pos- office a few days. Only been sible. We have The fact that the newly elected Labourites have definite no strategy to fight Bill the is ominous. orkers from River Don steelworks, reverse a decision taken by stewards prevent machines being dismantled on to Firth Brown. success A RECENT go-slow of Radar inspectors at Decca's Battersea factory has been successful in achieving the up-grading of one of their members. The inspectress involved was not being paid the rate for her grade of work, which she had been doing for several weeks.

This was seen as part of an attempt by management to en- force flexibility working, as they are doing throughout the factory on the assembly lines. Job-evaluation being is introduced throughout the Decca group despite unanimous opposition from the Battersea factory and the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers on the combine convenors' com- mittee. Management is being helped by workers' the clerical union (APEX) which accepts job evaluation and by the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) which is rumoured to be about to accept. the firm taken Lover ot was Worthington Studebaker America. In October last year 400 men were put on short-time and at Christmas 100 redundancies were announced. Said Mr Davies: 'The strike until our canvassing other firms in the area for the financial support of the strike by distributing leaflets'

SLL LECTI

Cliff Slaughter, Central Comn Socialist Labour League, will g on Marxism and the Socialist on the following dates in Sheffie Monday, May 15, at 7.30 | Monday, May 22, at 7. Monday, June 5, at 7.30 | at the Burngreave Ves Barnsley Ro

SHEFFIEL

SINCE last August negotiations have been going on at Triumph, Liverpool, over Measured-Day Work. The strategy used by the nego- from tiating panel was wrong start to finish, in my opinion.

After calm reflection, I believe that the whole of the workers should have taken the offensive against British-Leyland. The leaders of all Leyland fac- tories should have got together and gone for a common wage claim, common conditions, etc.

We must say to ourselves, this MDW is becoming very popular, but with whom? It is certainly not with the workers because where ever it goes, there is an increase in production and a decrease in men, and so on. The tools of management that go with MDW, job-evaluation and time-study over in Operation [department] supply management with priceless information so 12 months hence, when you come to put in for a rise, you have got to make bricks out of straw to get over the first hurdle. Your feet will be out of breath, you will be working 14 to the dozen. You, brothers and sisters, will probably have cauliflower ears listening to the argument for and against. If you think people exaggerate to illustrate a point you're deac right. No exaggeratior in the world can justify MDW. The negotiating panel have never really fought the MDW system.

The workers in Triumph have been extremely tolerant. The speeches some members of the panel have given from time to time at joint meetings would have got them the Duke of Edinburgh award. This is not a character assassination, that was self-inflicted. The offensive is now on, so let us knit ourselves together and take up the gauntlet. MDW is not manna from heaven, but used as a stick to beat the workers with. Paint shop steward Peter Doherty.

ECTURES

al Committee member of the e, will give a series of lectures Socialist Revolution in Britain n Sheffield. at 7.30 p.m.—Economics 2, at 7.30 p.m.-History at 7.30 p.m.-Philosophy eave Vestry Hall nsley Road

HEFFIELD

German vote FOR THE third consecutive month, Britain's balance of put off trade is in the red-to the tune of £53m. THE CRUCIAL vote in the Imports were up a total of West German Bundestag 8 per cent compared with Chancellor Willy Brandt's the previous three months, treaties with the Soviet Union and Poland will now take Record place next Wednesday. week was postponed ior a Boots Wednesday night after. Christian Democrat opposition made it clear ther nad vote against the treaties if the BOOTS, the big pharmaceutical debate was not postponed. have announced record retallers, It opposition leader Pre-tax Rainer is having difficulty €34.2m-£9m up on the previous right- ye The Boots persuaolog barne wingers from his own party dividend to share. vote with the government over holders is per cent, as fore- the urcalies. LasL In joint talks earlier this week A director of Boots is Mr John with the Soviet ambassador, the Arkell, currently sitting on the parliamentary leade Kremlin on won National Industrial con- Court alongside sir ohn Donald- 11U1 the form treaties. son passing judgement on unions.

Sabry's property grabbed by Egyption court

BY A FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

AN

EGYPTIAN

left wing. Their sequestration as too trial fol- court yesterday ordered the that the lowed blood anu conne the Sudan, which Sadat properties Tormer vice-res. purge in Sabry dent Aly and four, other suppested. former leaders should be esterday's sequestration impounded by the state former minis- ters- General Mohammed Fawzy Sabry and other and Shammed Gomaa (Interior) former ministers and civil and rayek (Informa. vants were jailed last October for former secre- 101 — Tine overthrow plotting tary general of the Arab Social- president Anwar Sadat. Union, Abdel Mohsen Abul Sadat regarded the Sabry group

TODAY'S

BBC 1

TV 9.20 Andy Pandy. 9.38 Schools.

12.55 Canur Bobol. 1.30 Mary, Mungo and Midge. 1.45 News, weather. 2.05 Schools. 2.25 Inter- national Lawn Tennis. 4.15 Play

ITV

School. 4.40 Jackanory. 4.55 Screen Test. 5.20 Hope and 11.00, 1.40 Schools. 1.10 Remem- Keen's Crazy Bus. 5.44 Hector's ber. 2.30 Good afternoon. 2.55 House. 5.50 News, weather.

Racing. 3.45 Drive-in. 4.15 Clap-

6.00 LONDON THIS WEEK.

perboard. 4.40 Zingalong. 4.55 Land of Giants. 5.50 News.

6.20 GEORGIE BEST.

6.30 F TROOP.

THE VIRGINIAN. Train of 6.30 Darkness.

7.00 THE SKY'S THE LIMIT.

7.40 THE LIVER BIRDS.

7.30 HIS AND HERS.

8.10 THE BROTHERS. 10: Full 8.00 THE FBI. Vendetta. Circle. 9.00 BUDGIE. The Jump Up 9.00 NEWS, Weather. Boys. 9.20 THE MAN OUTSIDE. (New

10.00 NEWS.

Rupert Davies as

10.30 POLICE FIVE.

Baker who looks on a

'SECONDS'.

world of mystery and sus pense. Hudson, Salome Jens, Will Geer. Science fiction. 10.10

BALLROOM

DANCE

elderly banker, receives a

10.45 24 HOURS.

phone call from a man he 11.15

THE

12.35 ONE POINT OF VIEW.

BBC 2

11.00 Play 6.05 School. Open Family - the book about University. 6.35 Crime and the Charles Manson; Ed Criminal. 7.05 University. Open of Sanders-author "The Family. NewSRoom, weatner 8.00

MONEY PROGRAMME

10.10 BEYOND A JOKE.

9.00

GARDENERS'

WORLD.

10.40 NEWS, Weather. ГЕСУ ‹ nrower. 10.45

INTERNATIONAL

LAWN

REVIEW.

9.20 Royal Dreams

TENNIS.

the air that got built;

11.15 LATE NIGHT LINE UP.

aciually big increases occurring in.

beverages and tobacco, motor vehicles and coal. Exports in the three months were 1 per cent down. The Department of Trade and Industry said that over

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

ENGINEERING employers preparing a mass lock-out to c by the area's 50,000 engineer: The area-wide action by the engineers is due to start on Monday. The final go-ahead for action in support of the national pay claim was given at a meeting of 200 shop stewards in Newcastle on Wednesday night. The employers have reacted sharply by issuing battle orders to 84 local federated firms.

Mr Robert Parkins, the regional official of the Engineer- The Marx Brothers (| to r) Chico, Gre

BBC 1.

REGIONAL TV

SOUTHERN: 2.30 London. 3.45 Cartoon. 3.55 Weekend. 4.00 Houseparty. 4.15 Paulus. 4.30 Crossroads. 4.55 Voyage. 5.50 News. 6.00 Day to day. 6.40 7.00 Sky's the Out town. limit. 7.30 Jason King. 8.30 His and hers. 9.00 London. 10.30 Weekend. 10.35 Film: 'My Gun Is Quick'. 12.20 News. 12.30 Weather. Matter of life and WESTWARD: 11.00 Schools. 2.30 Racing. 3.55 Gus Honeybun. 4.05 Zingalong. 4.18 News. 4.20 Dick Van Dyke. 4.50 Flintstones. 5.20 Primus. 5.50 News. 6.00 Diary.

6.25 Sports desk. 6.35 Cross- roads. 7.00 sky's the limit. 7.30 I spy. 8.30 His and hers.

9.00 London. 10.32 News, weather. 10.36 Film: 'The Criminal'. 12.15 Faith for life. HTV: 11.00 Schools. 2.30 Racing.

3.20 Grasshopper island. 3.35 Enchanted house. 3.50 Women.

4.15 Tinkertainment. 4.30 Cross- roads. 4.55 Voyage. 5.50 News.

6.01 Report West. 6.18 Report Wales. 6.35 Bonanza. 7.30 Film: 'Interpol'. 9.00 Jason King. 10.00 hers. " Lon London. 11.00 His and 11.30 Budgie. 12.30 Weather.

Workers Pret in the three months February to April, visible trade was in deficit at a monthly rate of £55m. The deficit in the first quarter totals £113m compared with a debit of £2lm in the same period last year. loyers in the north east are out to counter the work to rule ngineers. ing Employers' Association, said companies may not accept these sanctions. Production would be severel disrupted and bearing in minc what happened. in Manchester they may think it better to close their gates. Companies may decide not one an sanctions are "just and the Federation will stand firm behind employers who will not give in. Chico, Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo spend 'A | HTV Wales and HTV Cymru/ Wales as above except: 4.15 Hor Cantamil. 6.01 Y Dydd. 10.30 Outlook. HTV West as above except: 6.01-6.35 Report West.

ANGLIA:

2.30 London. 3.45 Yoga. 4.10 News. 4.15 Cartoons.

4.25 Romper room. 4.50 Voyage.

5.50 News. 6.00 About Anglia. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Sky's the limit. 7.30 His and hers. 8.00 Combat. 9.00 London. 10.30 11.05 Film: "The Quare Probe. Fellow: 12.40 Living wor London.

ATV MIDLANDS: 2.30

3.35 Horoscope. 3.45 Women.

4.10 Julia. 4.40 Zingalong. 4.55 ary. Lost in space. 5.50 News. 6.00 Today. 6.35 Crossroads. His and hers. 7.30 Saint. 8.30 Shirley. 9.00 London. 10.35 Film: 'Witchcraft'. YORKSHIRE: 11.00 Schools. 12.40 Horse show. 1.40 Schools. 2.32 Good afternoon. 2.55 Racing. 3.40 Jimmy Stewart. 4.10 News.

4.15 Crossroads. 4.40 Zing- along. 4.55 Flaxton boys. 5.20 Flintstones. 5.50 News. 6.00 ort Calendar, weather. 6,30 Partners.

7.00 Sky's the limit. 7.30 His and hers. 8.00 Hawaii five-o. 9.00 ers. • London. 10.30 Film: 'The Singer Not the Song'. 1.00 Weather.

orkers Press, Friday May 12, 1972 PAGE 11 THE SCOTTISH Tory Party got off to a flying start yesterday- with a unanimously passed reso- lution • expressing over concern the increasing use of violence for criminal, industrial and political ends. Gavin Dunnett of South Aber- deen, who moved the resolution, there had been said very little violence in Britain's history. We probably needed to go back to Oliver Cromwell to find the last serious attempt at disrupting our democracy. Recently, however, there had been a change. Violence was increasing, not only in criminal but in political areas. spheres Industrial violence was a very recent onset. Dunnett said there had been opposition to the Industrial Rela- tions Act, and wails were still being heard from the unions, who suddenly found themselves having to keep to the law instead of flouting it. "There are factions in the unions who would like to take strong, violent action against this Act,' Dunnett said. 'We must say that, if they try this, it will be opposed to the last breath.'

ALL TRADES UNIONS

ALLIANCE MEETINGS

GLASGOW: Tuesday May 16, 7.30 p.m. Woodside Hall, George's Cross, Glasgow. The Industrial Relations Act.

Recall the TUC Expel the traitors Make the Tories resign WILLESDEN: Monday May 15, 8 Trades and Labour Hall, p.m. Willesden High Rd, NW10. spend 'A Day at the Races' tonight on TYNE TEES: 11.00 Schools. 12.40 Horse show. 2.30 Yoga. 2.55 Racing. 3.40 Jimmy Stewart. 4,10 News. 4.15 Crossroads. 4.40 Make a wish. 4.55 Flaxton boys.

5.20 Flintstones. 5.50 News. 6.00 Today. 6.30 Partners. 7.00 Sky's the limit. 7.30 His and hers. 8.00 Calling Dr Simon Gannon. 9.00 • Long, London. 10.30 Film: "The the Short and the Tall'. 12.35 News. 12.50 Epilogue. SCOTTISH: 11.00, 1.40 Schools.

2.30 Racing. Kiri. 3.45 Crossroads. 4.10 Dateling 4.55 Skippy. 5.20 Cartoons. 5.50 News. 6.00 Dateline. 6.20 Car- toon. 6.30 His and Hers. 7.00 Sky's the limit. 7.30 Andy. 8.00 Hawaii five-o. 9.00 London. 10.30 Conservative party confer- • ence. 11.00 Late call. 11.05 Film: 'Bramble Bush'. GRAMPIAN: 11.00 Schools. 2.55 Racing. 3.38 News. 3.45 Women.

4.10 Smith family. 4.40 Zing- along. 4.55 Rainbow country 5.20 Ivanhoe. 5.50 News. 6.00 News, weather. 6.05 Mr and Mrs. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Sky's the limit. 7.35 It takes a thief.

8.25 Melody inn. 9.00 London.

10.30 Conference_report. 11.00 Film: 'Dracula'. Road Report. 12.20 Epilogue.

PAGE 12 Workers Press, Friday May 12, 1:

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

THE TRANSPORT and Gen faced a new crisis yesterday Industrial Relations Court orde docks shop stewards to stop en of a haulage firm. If the order is ignored, Mr Walter Cunningham, chair- • sho man of Hull docks shop stewards' committee, and could possibly the union, face penalties for contempt a full hearing of the when case is heard on Monday. Today the court will make a the whether key ruling on union can be held responsible for shop stewards who carry out blacking against court and union instructions. yesterday's case Panalpina In (Northern) Limited of Bradford asked for an interim order ban- ning the blacking of its lorries on Hull docks. They applied for injunctions against the union and Mr Cun- ningham who was not repre- sented or present in court.

first shop He became the steward to be named in a com- plaint submitted to the court.

president Sir John Court Donaldson ruled that a prima facie case against the union and Mr Cunningham had been estab- lished under Section 96 of the Industrial Relations Act. This the inducement of work- makes break contracts an unfair ers to industrial practice. The order also applies to the but Sir John allowed union, stay of its application until this morning to give time for an appeal. He disagreed with counsel for the union, Professor K. Wedder- burn, that there was no case to answer under Section 96.

He said there was no doubt that the dockers were aware of consequences of blacking the Panalpina. 'There are two possible con- tracts here—one of possible car- riage and the other, the dockers own contract of employment,' he said. "There would be a breach of both contracts in stopping lorries going onto the docks.

As far as the union was con- cerned, he said the real issue was whether it could be held respon- sible for the actions of the shop stewards' committee, which was unofficial and acted against union advice. 'This is a highly arguable issue be argued, Donaldson and will said.

LATE NEWS

NEWS DESK

01-720 2000

CIRCULATION

01-622 7029 Industrial Relations Court was sitting at 8.30 p.m. last night to consider government application for ballot of union members over rail dispute.

Aimed at stopping industrial action — the midnight work- to-rule. May 12, 1972 nd General Workers' Union esterday when the National urt ordered one of its leading stop encouraging the blacking IT CHAIRMAN of Hull dock r- shop stewards, Walter Cun- ningham has said the blacking will be kept up. Mr Cunningham, the first shop steward to be taken to the National Industrial Rela- tions Court, said on Wednes- day: 'No matter how much pressure is applied, it will not in any way affect the blacking.

We will still keep it on until it is lifted by the national shop stewards' committee? The issue, in fact, is likely to be settled today when T&GWU hear the 'verdict' on the blacking of haulage firms on Liverpool docks. The union has argued that shop stewards who act against union policy are no advice and longer 'agents' and therefore the union cannot be held legally responsible for their actions.

If the Court finds that they union will responsible, the are face an extreme crisis. It will presumably be held responsible 'rebel' actions of its for the members in Liverpool and on Hull docks. If they are not held respon- sible, the shop stewards will be wide open to charges of con- tempt of the Court. Yesterday was the first time any union fought a case over an unfair industrial practice in the Court. Wedderburn's failure to halt a court order against the union is a blow to those who argue that the Court be used in the can interests of trade unions.

• Workers Press learnt yester- da thae a ud ficiate mockers dockers have blacked four containers for a Ben Line steamer loading for Far East at No 7 shed, the Royal Albert dock, London.

SEAMEN yesterday rejected a suggestion that they should amalgamate with the Transport General and Workers Union. Voting at the National Union of Seamen conference at Folkestone 65-9 against, with five was abstentions.

WEATHER

MOST places will be cloudy with rain at times, however northern Scotland will probably remain weather. is ex- dry and drier pected to spread slowly south- wards during the day to most districts except East Anglia and South-East England. There will be strong easterly winds in many places but in southern England strong westerly winds at first. It will be rather generally and near the east cold coast it will be cold. and Sun- Outlook for Saturday day: Mostly dry with sunny periods especially in the west but rather cloudy with some showers at first in the south-east.

Rather cold temperatures in the east but normal temperatures in the west. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Published by Workers Press. Office. 186a Clapham HiRh Street, London.

SW4 7UG.

Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU).

180b Clapham Hish Street. London.

SW4 7UG.

One of yesterday's typical well-heeled lob TRADE UNION leaders and a sprinkling of housewives and unemployed joined Tees- side civic dignitaries, indust- rialists, managers, clergy and professional people at a jobs lobby in London yesterday.

About 450 people from the of Teesside towns Middles- borough, Stockton, Hartlepool, Redcar and Thorsby marched through London to the House of Commons to lobby Tory MPs.

Earlier 90 people had split up into deputations and visited the offices of the major banks, government departments, inter- national corporations, like ICI, and the TUC to ask them to urgent steps to reduce take jobless Teesside's one in ten rate. Clergymen, businessmen and trade union leaders explained they hoped the government would consider a major public works programme, moving gov- ernment departments to the area and setting up a new university.

I1lIIII

MAY FUND

GROWS TO

£701.80 AS NIXON launches a major onslaught against the Vietnamese workers and peasants, the Torles In Britaln are likewise forced into the attack and con- tinue to wield the Industrial Relations Act against the unions.

The enormous crisis of the capitalist class is driving mil- lions of workers into action. In the face of these major decisive struggles, Workers Press must remain right out in front.

appeal therefore to you all: Help us make our Fund this month our best effort so far. You have raised £701.80 to date let's make it a record this month.

We are sure you will do your Post all your donations best. Immediately to: Workers Press May Appeal Fund 186a Clapham High St, London SW4 7UG WORKERS in the entertain- ments industry yesterday voted in favour of continued de-regis- under the Industrial tration Relations Act. at the National Delegates Association of Theatrical, Tele- A MASS meeting of 260 British Steel Corporation workers from the Toll Cross works outside Glasgow yesterday decided to continue their two-week-old strike for the national engineer- ing claim. The meeting heard messages of Craigneuk support from

TIER

WEAK

heeled lobbyists Among a six strong group of unemployed youth on the lobby at Westminster, Josh Nunn (17), from Eaglescliffe told me: I'm Youth Club. I came because I

ORDER NOW

First issue out Saturday May 13 Tre eight-page youth paper which leads the fight against the Tory government, for the right to work, in factories, dole schools and on the queues. Please send me 'Keep Left' for one year I enclose £2.86 Name Address. vision and Kine Employees Icrence carried reso mons endorsing their executive's action de-registering, and pledging continued for

TUC

DONCY

Ach Inere were a number of abstentions. Hallside BSC factories, where meetings planned to masc support Toll Cross. Before their strike began the Tol on CrOSS WorKers were three-day week and one of their demands is for an end to short- See

BSC

hive-off. p.10. was asked, but it would be better kick Tories out than the This lobbying them stand nere country communist be- will go •fore : long. reepLefT of and Plentv news. views features at 3p a copy. copy now. Order vour Yearly subscription £2.86 Send to 1Km High St. 186a Clapham High

SW4 7UG

London,