Workers Press no. 786

workers press

FULL SUPPORT TO

THE RAILWAYMEN

BRITISH RAIL, backed by the To government, yesterday declared w on the three rail unions. This w the only conclusion to be drawn fre the crisis pay talks held yesterday which the board refused to conce an inch, writes Ian Yeats.

In the face of the intransigence the Rail Board, the three rail lead

MICHAEL BANDA

THE longest-drawn-out and n tions in the history of Briti have now reached an abrupt As Sir Sidney Greene said after his talks with Railways Board chairman Richard Marsh: 'We were not getting anywhere' This is not just a summary of the talks, it is a damning indict- ment of the reformist leadership of the rail unions who have given the Tories three vital months to prepare an offensive against the unions. The Tories desperately need a victory against the railwaymen in preparation for an autumn crisis, which will be exacerbated by the gold crisis as well as entry into the Common Market. Despite rumours that the Tory cabinet is split on the rails (simi- lar stories were used to disarm Labour voters in 1970), and that

IMPORTANT

FEATURE SERIES

Starts today. Cliff Slaughter today con- tinues his important series of articles with 'Capitula- tion to bureaucracy' TOMORROW: Centrism and the working class SATURDAY: International Marxist Group (IMG) writes off the working class MONDAY: Centrism and the crisis of reformism TUESDAY: The political independence of the work- ing class Make sure you follow each day's instalment of this theoretical series.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLE

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTR

y the Tory were forced to walk out. Before going, however, t clared war almost • This was every poin away remaining claim to try to s irawn from to take further industrial a esterday in the Board was having none to concede NUR general secretary nsigence of Greene said afterwards, W bergasted. We were antici rail leaders t and most tortuous negotia- of British industrial conflict abrupt and predictable end.

there is no prospect of a govern- ment victory, there is every evi- dence to show that the real de- cision-makers in the Tory Party are determined to take on the rail unions. Behind a smokescren of defeat- ist press propaganda these men feverishly preparing are action. Repeating his statement made Hoo, Tory premier at Luton Heath told the Commons on Tuesday: Every effort ought to be made to reach agreement, but it cannot be one constantly at of the consumer" the expense His statement was echoed by Maurice Macmillan, the Employ- ment Secretary. derives Heath's confidence from the fact that the Tories have so far succeeded in driving a wedge between the railmen and dockers. The Tories have been able to do this only because they, unlike the union leaders, treated the rail claim as a political strike and not just as another industrial skir- mish. A defeat at the hands of rail- men and dockers, coming on top of the miners' victory, wages would precipitate a severe politi- cal crisis and force them to a General Election. This is the spectre that has haunted Heath for a whole month. It was succinctly summarized by Lord Justice Denning in winding up his judgement in the Appeal Court appointed to hear appeal on the secret rail ballot: It has to be remembered that we are concerned with a grave threat to. the national economy to see that the steps which were imperil the proposed did not liberty, livelihood or property of any man.' This is Bonapartist talk no different from Heath's demagogy about the "consumer'. Every industrial struggle is now viewed by the Tories a means by as • the corporatist structure which set up under the Industrial Rela- tions Act can be consolidated.

To this strategy of the Tories.

the union leaders have nothing counterpose except their to reformist belief that the Tories will not behave as Tories.

Look at their record. The joint claim the rail unions was decided in February.

Despite demands for a strike, Ray Buckton of the locomen's union ASLEF said in the third week of March: *We shall want negotiations to continue until a decision reached!'

• NEWSLETTER

THURSDAY JUNE 8, 1972

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOC

Board were going wever, they threw offer but they made ery point in the whatsoever. try to stall having *We did all the lustrial action. But they just sat there ing if we were willi ing none of it. "We told them cretary Sir Sidney ards, 'We are flab- pared to accept re anticipating the June 5 with a lum Greene yesterday: offered deal, but no go To encourage this passivity, the Tory-appointed Rail Board graciously conceded a miserable 1 per cent increase on its ori- ginal offer on March 21, but left basic rates untouched. At the end of March the union met with a firm 'No' from the Rail Board. Rail talks broke down and the unions walked out. Despite unprecedented mili- tancy by rail workers, all Buck- ton could find to say was: I'm very disappointed ... But I'm still hoping.' It was only in the second week of April that a work-to-rule was called for by ASLEF leaders-and that only because union members were threatening to take un- official action. This was followed by more talks with Macmillan. They were entirely fruitless. On the same day the miners' executive pledged full support for the train drivers.

Alarmed by these develop- the Tories called the ments Cabinet Emergency Committee to 28 Charlotte St London W1

PERIODICALS • N

•

BOOKS

E 8, 1972 No 786 4p

HE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

re going to make us an cover the p hey made no new proposals June 5. *We even all the negotiating while lump sum t to know? sat there and kept on ask- vere willing to compromise.

The thr d them we would be pre- meet at l accept an increase from night the th a lump sum payment to to say wha decide on action against the unions. The press and television were full of speculation that the NIRC would be called in and a cool- ing-off period decreed. They weren't far off the mark.

Buckton and his colleagues re- mained completely unmoved: am hopeful this meeting with ' the Minister will allow us to negotiate this matter to a suc- cessful conclusion.' The Tories then began to escalate this political attack.

Barber made his infamous attack accusing railmen of 'black- mail which prompted Greene to Tories of inciting accuse the people to violence' Despite thesé obvious prepara- tions the union leaders remained completely passive. When Alex Jarratt of IPC was appointed chairman of the joint talks be- tween the unions and the Board, it was accepted without a mur- mur. Once again Buckton spoke up hopefully: I am always hopeful, always optimistic' Two days after the top Tories were meeting in hurried consulta- tion and a special plane was put at the disposal of the TUC men to travel to London to get agree- ment. When this failed, the Tories used the heavy artillery of the NIRC to outlaw the work-to-rule and get union leaders to recog- nize what Macmillan called 'the law of the land'. This was the same week that the Court increased the fine on the T&GWU for contempt of court by £50,000. The imposition of a cooling- off period on the railmen and the threat to seize the assets of the T&GWU was not lost on the rail union leaders. They immediately abandoned the 16-per-cent wage claim in favour of 12} per cent including a £20 minimum to start from May 1. This surrender did nothing to impress the Tories-nor did the decision of the unions to post- pone action on their claim which

LS • NEWSPAPERS

ver the period between May 1 and *We even knocked €500,000 off the mp sum today but they didn't want The three union executives will eet at 10.30 a.m. today, but last ght the general secretaries refused say what the outcome would be.

followed this reatreat. To compound the reformist confusion and retreat the NUR and TSSA leaders voted against the recall of the TUC to affirm the TUC boycott of the NIRC.

Then the work-to-rule was cal- led off and the Tory secret bal- lot accepted. This was the high point of the surrender to Tory- Ism. It was this action which ena- bled the Tories to buy the neces- persuade sary time to the T&GWU leaders to postpone the docks strike in the hope of a deal on containerization on the docks. The holding of a secret ballot, it is explicitly stated in the Act, is justified only if it helps to achieve a settlement. Everybody including the Tories know that the result of the bal- lot would be a foregone con- clusion. The Rail Board officials, it is rd, now revealed by Buckton, were opposed to a ballot. Then why did they not oppose it in the

NIRC?

Precisely because it was gov- ernment policy to buy time, even though such a manoeuvre would harden opinion in the rail unions and tie the • hands of the rail union leaders to a ballot decision.

And why did the Court, despite a mountain of evidence, grant the application for a ballot? A rhe- torical question! Despite the ruthless conduct of the Tories the union leaders are still trying to evade the political conclusion of the impending strike. The vast majority of railway looking for any not men are compromise. want their They legitimate right to a decent stand- ard of living and they want to protect it by all means necessary.

Railmen must demand of their leaders that they cease all nego- Rail Board, tiations with the accept the offer of help from the miners and call on the whole trade union movement in parti- cular the dockers-to defend their rights from being usurped by a Tory corporatist state.

Make Tories resign! the Support the railmen!

NOW OPEN

Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri 9 а.т.-б р.т. Thurs 9 a.m.-7.30 p.m. Sat 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

workers press

FULL SUPPORT TO

RAILWAYMEN

BRITISH RAIL, backed by the Tory government, yesterday declared war rail unions. on the three the only conclusion to be drawn from the crisis pay talks held yesterday in which the board refused to concede an inch, writes lan Yeats.

In the face of the intransigence of the Rail Board, the three rail leaders

THE

MICHAEL BANDA

THE longest-drawn-out and most tortuous negotia- tions in the history of British have now reached an abrupt and predictable end.

Sir Sidney Greene As said after his talks with Railways Board chairman Richard Marsh: 'We were not getting anywhere'. is not just a summary of This indict- the talks. it is a damning ment of the retormist leadersnip of the rail unions who have given the Tories three vital months to the prepare an onensive against unions. The Tories desperately need a victory against the railwaymen in preparanon Tor on aululill which will be exacerbated by the gold as well into crisis as entry the Common Market. that the Tory Despite rumours cabinet is split on the rails (simi- lar used to disarm stories were Labour voters in 1970), and that

IMPORTANT

FEATURE SERIES

Starts today. Cliff Slaughter today con- tinues his important series of articles with 'Capitula- tion to bureaucracy'

TOMORROW:

Centrism , and the working class SATURDAY: International Marxist Group

(I MG)

writes off the working class MONDAY: Centrism and the crisis of reformism TUESDAY: The political independence of the work- ing class Make sure you follow each day's instalment of this theoretical series.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLE

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTR

y the Tory were forced to walk out. Before going, however, t clared war • This was away almost every poin remaining claim to try to s irawn from to take further industrial a esterday in the Board was having none to concede NUR general secretary Greene said afterwards, 'W nsigence of bergasted. We were antici rail leaders t and most tortuous negotia- of British industrial conflict abrupt and predictable end.

there is no prospect of a govern- ment victory, there is every evi- dence to show that the real de- cision-makers in the Tory Party are determined to take on the rail unions. Behind a smokescren of defeat- ist press propaganda these men preparing feverishly for are action. Repeating his statement made at Luton Hoo, Tory premier Heath told the Commons on Tuesday: 'Every effort ought to be made to reach agreement, but it cannot be one constantly at the expense of the consumer'.

echoed by statement was Maurice Macmillan, the Employ- ment Secretary. derives Heath's confidence from the fact that the Tories have so far succeeded in driving a wedge between the railmen and dockers. The Tories have been able to do this only because they, unlike the union leaders, treated the rail claim as a political strike and not just as another industrial skir- mish. A defeat at the hands of rail- men and dockers, coming on top of the miners' victory, wages would precipitate a severe politi- cal crisis and force them to a General Election. This is the spectre that has haunted Heath for a whole month. It was succinctly summarized by Lord Justice Denning in winding up his judgement in the Appeal Court appointed to hear the appeal on the secret rail ballot: It has to be remembered that we are concerned with a grave threat to. the national economy to see that the steps which were did not imperil the proposed liberty, livelihood or property of any man.' This is Bonapartist talk no different from Heath's demagogy 'consumer'. about the Every industrial struggle is now viewed by the Tories a means by as which the corporatist structure set up under the Industrial Rela- tions Act can be consolidated.

To this strategy of the Tories, the union leaders have nothing except their to counterpose reformist belief that the Tories will not behave as Tories.

Look at their record. The joint claim of the rail unions was decided in February.

Despite demands for a strike, Ray Buckton of the locomen's union ASLEF said in the third week of March: 'We shall want negotiations to until a decision is continue reached.'

• NEWSLETTER •

THURSDAY JUNE 8, 1972

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOC

Board were going offer but they made wever, they threw ery point in the whatsoever. • try to stall having "We did all the dustrial action. But they just sat there ing none of it. ing if we were willi We told them cretary Sir Sidney ards, 'We are flab pared to accept re anticipating the June 5 with a lum] Greene yesterday: offered deal, but no go To encourage this passivity the Tory-appointed Board Rail graciously conceded a miserable 1 per cent increase on its ori- ginal offer on March 21, but left basic rates untouched. At the end of March the union met with a firm 'No' from the Rail Board. Rail talks broke down and the unions walked ou mili- Despite unpretedented tancy by rail workers, all Buck- ton could find to say was: Im very disappointed ... But I'm still hoping.' It was only in the second week of April that a work-to-rule was called for by ASLEF leaders-and that only because union members were threatening to take un- official action. This was followed by more talks with Macmillan. They were entirely fruitless. On the same day the miners' executive pledged full support for the train drivers.

Alarmed by these develop- ments the Tories called the Cabinet Emergency Committee to 28 Charlotte St London W1

BOOKS

PERIODICALS

E 8, 1972 • No 786 4p

HE SOCIALIST LABOUR

LEAGUE

re going to make us an cover the f hey made no new proposals June 5. 'We even all the negotiating while Jump sum 1 sat there and kept on ask- to know? The thr vere willing to compromise.

d them we would be pre- meet at 1 accept an increase from night the th a lump sum payment to to say wha decide on action against the unions. The press and television were full of speculation that the NIRC would be called in and a cool- ing-off period decreed. They weren't far off the mark.

Buckton and his colleagues re- mained completely unmoved: am hopeful this meeting with' the Minister will allow us to negotiate this matter to a suc- cessful conclusion.' The Tories then began to escalate this political attack.

Barber made his infamous attack accusing railmen of 'black- mail' which prompted Greene to accuse the Tories of 'inciting people to violence' Despite thesě obvious prepara- tions the union leaders remained completely passive. When Alex Jarratt of IPC was appointed chairman of the joint talks be- tween the unions and the Board, it was accepted without a mur- mur. Once again Buckton spoke up hopefully: I am always hopeful, always optimistic.' Two days after the top Tories were meeting in hurried consulta- tion and a special plane was put at the disposal of the TUC men to travel to London to get agree- ment. When this failed, the Tories used the heavy artillery of the NIRC to outlaw the work-to-rule and get union leaders to recog- nize what Macmillan called 'the law of the land'. This was the same week that the Court increased the fine on the T&GWU for contempt of court by £50,000. imposition of a cooling- The off period on the railmen and the threat to seize the assets of the T&GWU was not lost on the rail union leaders. They immediately abandoned the 16-per-cent wage claim in favour of 12t per cent including a £20 minimum to start from May 1. This surrender did nothing to impress the Tories-nor did the decision of the unions to post- pone action on their claim which

LS • NEWSPAPERS

ver the period between May 1 and 'We even knocked £500,000 off the mp sum today but they didn't want The three union executives will et at 10.30 a.m. today, but last ght the general secretaries refused say what the outcome would be.

followed this reatreat. To compound the reformist confusion and retreat the NUR and TSSA leaders voted against the recall of the TUC to affirm the TUC boycott of the NIRC.

Then the work-to-rule was cal- led off and the Tory secret bal- lot accepted. This was the high point of the surrender to Tory- ism. It was this action which ena- bled the Tories to buy the neces- to persuade time the sary T&GWU leaders to postpone the docks strike in the hope of a deal on containerization on the docks. The holding of a secret ballot, it is explicitly stated in the Act, is justined only it it helps to achieve a settlement. Everybody including the Tories know that the result of the bal- lot would be a foregone con- clusion. The Rail Board officials, it is rd, now revealed by Buckton, were opposed to a ballot. Then why did they not oppose it in the

NIRC?

Precisely because it was gov- ernment policy to buy time, even though such a manoeuvre would harden opinion in the rail unions and tie the hands of the union leaders to a ballot decision.

And why did the Court, despite a mountain of evidence, grant the application for a ballot? A rhe- torical question! Despite the ruthless conduct of the Tories the union leaders are still trying to evade the political of the impending conclusion strike. The vast majority of railway not looking for any men are compromise. They want their legitimate right to a decent stand- ard of living and they want to protect it by all means necessary.

Railmen must demand of their leaders that they cease all nego- the Rail Board, tiations with accept the offer of help from the miners and call on the whole trade union movement in parti- cular the dockers-to defend their rights from being usurped by a Tory corporatist state.

resign! Make the Tories Support the railmen!

NOW OPEN

Thurs 9 a.m. 7.30 p.m. Sat 9 2mo-5 p.m.

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Thursday June 8, 1972 British capitalism can be THE economic crisis facing clearly seen from the report of the National Institute for Social Research. On the day the report Economic and was published, feverish buying pushed the gold price up by almost $3 an ounce. Yesterday morning the price was fixed at $64.75 an ounce—$5.30 above Monday's closing price. As a result of the report. the 'Financial Times' share index fell eight points in the slackest day of trading since the aftermath of the monetary upheaval last September.

The report forecasts continuing high unemployment, rocketing prices and a rapid deterioration in the balance of payments. It makes nonsense of the Tory government's estimates of increased economic growth over the coming period Unemployment (which stood at 822,000 last month) will be over 750,000 for the first quarter of next 'with little further fall from year, the Institute forecasts, then on given present policies'. Prices will 'accelerate, on "unchanged policies", as value-added tax is introduced at the proposed 10 per cent standard rate'. The Institute forecasts that the rate of price increases in 1973 will be almost double this year's rate. Balance of payments on current account will be £500m in deficit by the end of next year, the report says. It says imports will increase almost twice as fast as exports-raising the prospect of an early sterling devaluation to try and undercut foreign competition. In reality, this report is extremely optimistic. It takes war inter- account of the intensification trade no nationally resulting from the breakdown of the post-war Yet the extremely rapid increase monetary system. In the gold price indicates that confidence in paper cur- rency is at rock-bottom internationally, and prepares the way for a series of huge commercial crashes.

Workers Press has continuously warned of the economic crisis driving the Tory government to attack the living standards and basic rights of the working class.

This is the background to the struggles on the railways and in the docks and the imposition of a legal dictator- ship over the trade unions. The report proves there is not the slightest prospect of any let-up in the drive to impose a Bonapartist dictatorship on the working ciass.

Yet the Stalinists of the Communist Party and the right-wing trade union leaders proceed as if the economic crisis did not exist. To recognize the crisis is to confront the reality of the Tory government and prepare to bring it down. This is the last thing these reformist leaders want. They are trying to deliver the working class tied hand and foot to the Tories and a future of mass un- employment, rampant inflation and economic collapse.

THE South African govern- ment has clamped a month- long ban on protest meetings and processions in every uni- walked back to the university, though they were not held.

versity centre in a sweeping However, at Rhodes University move to crush the anti-apar- in Grahamstown, over 100 stu- theid movement among the dents and staff were arrested and country's students. charged with offences under the Riotous Assemblies Act. The ban came as students in a number of universities were In Durban, Indian students decide were due whether to planning marches and open-air continue their lecture boycott and meetings against the brutal face suspension. police attacks on students in The student movement is Cape Town. apartheid threat to the major Students at several universities regime, which can rule only by changed their plans and the most rigid police methods hastily imposition of virtual arranged indoor meetings-not and the This covered by Justice Minister Pet- thought-control. system is rus Pelser's decree. now coming apart at the seams.

But in The government is plainly ex- Johannesburg, where defied ban, worried by the students the police tremely upsurge waded in with rubber truncheons of student militancy, which against a student demonstration.

threatens with the to line up They warned by police struggle of black workers against that they would face 'very serious contract labour and low consequences' unless they stopped Windhoek, Namibia In (South-West Africa), defying the ban. yesterday, Moments the police eight Ovambo workers were found later charged, swinging their batons.

guilty of inciting their comrades strike At the all-white University of and fined and given Natal, students stayed away from suspended jail sentences.

five-month classes yesterday, closing the uni- magistrate found them grity of After trial, versity. playing a leading part in last's They were planning to hand year's strike by Ovambo contract 50,000 pamphlets out accusine the government of creating a cli- workers. It was the strike-by one of mate of hatred and breaking the oppressed the sections of law. most Students who handed out pro- Southern Africa's black workforce pamphlets in Johannesburg test arisis r waca dist revealed une on Tuesday were arrested as they acking the apartheid system.

AROUND THE WORLD

by John Spencer BEHIND the tragedy which has claimed the lives of 428 Wankie Colliery, miners at Rhodesia, is a brutal reality of starvation wages, ruthless exploitation and a relentless drive for profit. Only eight men have been pulled out alive from the pit since it exploded and filled with poisonous gas on Tues- day. Rescue operations were halted by two secondary explosions yesterday morning, and the teams have virtually rescue abandoned hope of bringing any more miners out alive. 392 black miners and 36 whites are entombed in the blazing gas- 300 feet under- filled galleries ground. Number Two colliery The where the explosion occurred produced about 40 per cent of the total output of the Wankie colliery complex. The disaster pit is owned by the Wankie Colliery Company, a subsidiary of the Anglo-Ameri- can Corporation of South Africa.

Anglo-American is the largest mining company Southern Africa, with a capital of £650m; of it raised through the much City of London from British in- vestors. Last year the Wankie Colliery Company declared pre-tax profit of 3.5m Rhodesian dollars (about £1.75m) and paid out nearly Elm in dividends. As a whole, Anglo-American made a profit of over £20m last year. The basis of these profits is cheap labour, backed up by apartheid-style legislation and police repression. The black workers under the Smith regime are denied virtually all trade union rights and the mining companies are not slow to take advantage of the situation.

According to figures recently published in the 'Economist' black mineworkers earn an average yearly wage of £215 a year-just over f4 a week.

By contrast, the wage of a white miner averaged £2,785 a year. With dozens of unemployed chasing every job, the black miners are forced to disregard SENATOR George McGov- ern has won the democratic presidential primaries in California, New Jersey; New Mexico and his home state of South Dakota. With 56 per cent of the crucial California votes in— there was a legal snarl over the .

closing hours cf the polls- McGovern had 48 per cent; his Sen Hubert chief rival, Humphrey, 36 per cent; and Governor George Alabama safety standards and regulations in the interests of greater pro- duction-greatly increasing the dangers of catastrophe in the mines. The Wankie disaster is not the first mining holocaust in South- ern Africa. Over the past I2 years, the death toll is lengthy.

January 1960, 437 miners, all but six of them Africans, died after being trapped by rock falls in the Lydesdale North Colliery, South Africa. In February 1961, 30 men died in an undeground explosion at South Roodeport Mine. And in December 1962, 29 Africans died at West Driefontein gold mine when a crushing plant collapsed.

Four years later, in January

ITALIAN

• fascist leader Giorgio Almirante has invited youth to prepare for a 'physical dash' with the Communist Party. youth should not be Italian educated to violence but equally should not be taught resignation, he wrote in his party's news- paper, 'll Secolo d'Italia' If prevented from entering the schools and factories it must know how to enter them and to stay there,' he declared.

Almirante also said that if the government 'abdicated its duties,' the fascists had the task of 'creating within the armed forces and the police a climate of soli- darity which allows them to do their duty in the defence of TENS of thousands of demon- strators marched through cen- tral Paris yesterday to back a 24-hour strike called by the

CGT

trade Stalinist-backed union confederation. • The marchers demanded minimum wage of 1,000 francs (£75) a month and the lowering of the retirement to 60. age There were several scuffles with members of left-wing groups along the route of the march.

The one-day stoppage was yet another stunt by the CP to frit- ter away workers' militancy in blind-alley protest actions.

Behind a smokescreen of pro- Wallace, a write-in candidate, about 6 per cent. Humphrey also second ran place McGovern in New to Jersey, where he was not expected to win. And with 60 per cent of the precincts in New Mexico finished counting, McGovern had 32 per cent-putting him hairs- breadth in front of Wallace with 30 per cent. Humphrey was tail- ending them both at 26 per cent. He took all 17 votes in South Dakota. McGovern will thus take all of California's key 271 delegate votes at the Democratic Party convention in Miami on July 10, ahead in the is now well race for the party's choice of a candidate to challenge President Nixon in November. McGovern already has 561 votes and if his predictions are realized in the next few hours he will have around 950 of the 1,509 delegate votes needed to secure the nomination. As this sought-after prize draws near, McGovern has more he 1967, 17 miners were killed when the Virginia gold mine in the - Orange Free State was ripped by a methane explosion. Similar accidents have taken a steady toll of miners' lives since then. The worst in recent years was the cave-in at Mufulira on the Zambian copperbelt in September 1970 when 89 miners died.

Shareholders in Anglo-Ameri- can need not worry too much, however. Their shares slipped by only 5p when news of the Wankie disaster reached London. And with the current rise in gold prices they will soon over- come this trifling setback to their drive for profits. everybody's freedom against sub- versives.' The fascists and their Monar- chist allies increased their seats from 30 to 56 in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) in the election last month. His threats to smash the work- ers' organizations and organize strikebreaking have struck panic into the capitalist politicians now trying to cobble together a work- able coalition government.

His statements demonstrate the acute dangers of the Communist Party's policy. During the elec- the Stalinists condemned tion, attacks on the fascists and posed as the protectors of parliamentary democracy. the Communist Party is in tact test against jockeying for electoral advantage in its current discussions with the Socialist Party. The two parties are trying to agree a common platform and slate for the forthcoming muni- cipal elections, and the strike is a means by which the CP can demonstrate its strength in the working class without seriously challenging the Pompidou govern- ment. ate, and more emerged from behind the screen of liberal rhetoric in which he has so far cloaked his campaign. The last hurdle separating him from winning the nomination is persuading big business that despite everything he is on their side. In reality, of course, he always has been. He did not vote against a single defence appropriation despite his anti-Vietnam war stance. He backs the Pay Board and the Taft-Hartley Act, with all that this means in terms of freezing and industrial wages relations. And he has announced he will vote for the anti- bussing provisions in the new education bill. Although he has sniped at Nixon's economic policy-and talked about unfairness in every- ranging thing from the Pay Board to education— his pro- posals to sort out these and taxation, the welfare system and foreign aid look more and more like plain old-fashioned, hard- headed 'business realism'.

TALKS continued yesterday factories where 2,000 workers claim of improved pay and long formula is peace reached, it will leave only three factories in the greater Manchester area still affected by the district-wide claim.

The plants concerned in yes- terday's talks were GEC Diesel, Newton-le-Willows; Viking En- gineering, Stockport; and William Neill, St Helens. The original claims included a demand for a 35-hour week, but this was abandoned after inter- vention from the national leader- ship of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers. AUEW district secretary John Tocher said yesterday that a con- cession shorter hours was on unlikely. At Viking Engineering, the dispute is complicated by a case victimization. of Management have sacked the firm's convenor and are claiming to have found him employment elsewhere.

John Tocher said that this 'diabolical and un- move was acceptable'. An emergency meet- ing of the Manchester Confedera- tion of Shipbuilding and En- gineering Unions was held yester- day afternoon to review the closing stages of the campaign and to consider finance. Next week all four sections of the AUEW will meet in national conference and this will be followed soon by the annual meeting of the CSEU. THE 300 workers at Leadgate Engineering Ltd, Consett, near Co Durham, have seized the fac- tory keys and locked themselves inside the works. With the firm due to close on June 30, the men's action is to the removal of machi- prevent nery and stocks from the fac- tory. The shop stewards decided

BY ALEX MITCHELL

PORT EMPLOYERS

will urge today that the national docks strike threat be lifted. The appeal will be made at today's meeting of the dock industry's National Joint Council in London. The basis for seeking a further postponment of the strike will negotiations round of be the begun between Jack Jones of the Transport and General Workers' Union and Lord Aldington, chairman of the Port of London Authority and former deputy chairman of the Tory Party.

The talks started on Tuesday under the auspices of a newly- created body called the joint stri terday at three North-West vorkers are holding out for a ind longer holidays. At both these events there is bound to be recrimination over the way the claim has been handled. It was abandoned at national level, but plant-by-plant the campaign to win major conces- sions has been singularly un- successful. The Manchester area bore the brunt of this struggle. After over 14 weeks of strikes, sit-ins and lock-outs however, hardly any workers have won the long sought after shorter working week. BRITISH Road Services workers at Birmingham have backed the campaign for Councils of Action.

• resolution carried by the 51538 branch of the Transport Workers' Union and General (BRS Freight, Birmingham) on June 4 calls, in of the view serious fines on the T&GWU by the National Industrial Relations Court, on the Birmingham Trades Council to follow Liverpool's and Coventry's example by immedi- ately establishing a Council of Action. This, the motion says, would 'bring together all those attacked by the Tories, to work out a common policy to make the Tory bring government resign and Labour back a government pledged to socialist policies'.

to stage the lock-in and occupa- tion after a meeting with Jack Rostron, Amalgamated Union of Workers' Engineering divisional official, on Tuesday. Management are to negotiate with the Department of Trade and Industry over repayment of a proportion of the grant received to set the factory up three years ago. authoritative committee, nick- named 'Jack'. so-called high-powered The committee was due to have within two reported weeks— before the national dock strike is due to start on Friday week, June 16. however, the story has Now, changed. The "Financial Times' reported yesterday the committee 'is expected to take up to six weeks to study the problems of contad the tournal of Cok merce 'Meetings of the 12-man says: committee will take place several times a week for the next six weeks', It becomes abundantly clear, therefore, what the employers and Jones are attempting to do.

They have claimed to have entered detailed negotiations so they will want the threatened strike shelved. Sit-in workers at GEC Diesels, Newton-l By our own reporter TWO engineers' union mem- appear in court bers will today at Dudley, Worcester- to answer charges shire, arising from an incident on the picket line at H. F. Shaw Ltd, Upper Gornal, Staffs.

Meanwhile three of the strikers—including shop stew- ard Ken Wright-are being held on remand to appear on more serious charges next Monday. Ken Wright and Leslie Garrett are being held at Winson Green jail in Birmingham. An 18-year- the third accused man is old, detained at a remand home.

Dudley magistrates refused to grant bail when the men appeared on Saturday charged with entering H. F. Shaw's as trespassers, doing unlawful dam- age and stealing 2,000 gallons of diesel oil worth £154. The oil is used to fuel furnaces. The men are maintaining a determined daily picket in the face of organized scabbing, the continual presence of police and an anonymous publicity campaign against them. The pickets claim they are continually receiving signed let- ters 'threatening them with the sack if they do not return.

One of the latest-headed 'News Letter to Strikers'-con- allegations "ten tains that ordinary strikers plus one "shop steward" have resigned and found other jobs', and that 'six other strikers including one "shop steward" and one other "leader" have tried to get other jobs and failed'. Whether Jones and his national docks O'Leary, secretary, Tim can swing the docks delegates at Thursday's meeting is next another matter. This meeting will be lobbied by hundreds of dockers who will be staging a day-long strike to all-out strike action demand against the employers. This lobby is the policy of the national shop stewards' com- mittee, decided in London last Saturday. Liverpool dockers have already voted to stage the token strike join the demonstration; and London dockers meet today.

The London meeting is held only days after the closedown of Southern Stevedores, which threw well over 1,000 men into the unattached pool. Previous stewards' policy was to strike if one more man was returned.

Workers Press, • Newton-le-Willows. Their action may be wou The men dismiss these claims contemptuously. They point out that the strikers are as solid ever, and that as when they began to unionize only one shop steward was ever elected. He, far from resigning, is at the moment in prison.

The letter, which is unsigned and contains no address, ends with a 'questionnaire' which in- cludes: 'We have calculated that the company can hold out easily December, until and much longer if necessary. Can you?

•.. Yes/No' The 'questionnaire' is headed: 'Now is your chance to say how you feel without pressure from anyone.' With this letter was a stamped envelope addressed to the works director. The men gleefully claim that the stamps were useful when

ALL TRADE

ALLIANCE I

Support the dockers and rail- waymen. Build Councils of Action NORTH LONDON: Thursday 8 p.m. June 8, Bricklayers Arms', Tottenham High Rd (nr White Hart Lane). CROYDON: Thursday June 8, 8 p.m. Ruskin House, Coombe Road. LUTON: Thursday June 8, 8 St John Ambulance p.m. Brigade Hall, Lea Road.

SOUTH EAST LONDON :

Thursday June 8, 8 p.m. Dept- er8 Press, Thuraday June 8, 1972 PAGE 3 y be wound up sending off this week's football pool! Another unsigned letter offered the 'new' rates of pay, men which strikers say were merely a rejigging of the division be- piecework daywork and tween rates. The flat rate of pay when the strike began was 35p an hour.

The men claim the most that could be earned on piecework was around £25. One picket claimed he was f7 a week worse off than three years ago.

The men stress, however, that they are not striking over pay but union recognition. They have yet to receive dis- pute benefit, although being sup- ported by the Wolverhampton Amalgamated Union of Engineer- ing Workers' district committee.

A collection at a local factory raised flQ for their strike fund.

LEON TROTSKY:

Germany 1931/1932 Paperback £1.25-Cloth {1.87} Where Is Britain Going? Paperback 374p Revolution Betrayed Paperback 624p—cloth £1.05 Problems of the Chinese Revolution Paperback £1.123—cloth £1.87% Permanent Revolution : Results and Prospects Paperback 75p In Defence of Marxism Paperback 75p Lessons of October Paperback 60p Postage 10p per book, 3p per pamphlet. Order from :

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186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG.

ADES UNIONS

ICE MEETINGS

ford Engineers' Club (opposite New Cross Station). SOUTHALL: Thursday June 8, 8 p.m. Parkway Rooms (Rent Office), Racecourse Estate, Northolt. PRESTON:_Thursday June 8, 7.30 p.m. Railway and Com- mercial Hotel (nr rail stn), Butler St. COALVILLE: Thursday June Miners' Welfare. 8, _ 8 p.m. 'Organize Councils of Action'.

WILLESDEN: Monday June 12, 8 p.m. St Michael's Hall, cnr Rds, Hillside and Knatchbull NW10.

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Thursday June 8, 1972 Part two of a six part series on revisionism by Clifi of Slaughter, Central Committee member the Socialist Labour League We explained yesterday demand for Labour to power "fits on a socialist programme that the fight to make the in perfectly with the line of the Tories resign and return line Labour leadership'? The of the Labour leadership is a Labour government take office only simply to with socialist policies was when the Tory master is elec- the only way to bring the pushed torally aside and to policy of life-and-death struggle of office with a take and rationalizing capitalism the masses into necessary the trade unions integrating successful conflict and into the state. Does this 'fit in socialist with the treacherous re- perfectly' with a policy? formist leadership of the Labour Party. International Marxist The this Group' (IMG) opposes policy. Lacking any confidence in the working class, it believes the workers cannot break out of the control of Wilson and the Labour leadership. As for our policy being very Reading the resolution pro- acceptable to the aims of the IMG National duced by the examine bureaucracy, let us. for its 1972 con- Committee the role of these trade union ference, we find the following bureaucrats. gem, which proves the point: In the great strike struggles of slogan "The since the election of the present "Labour do power on a social- Tory government, every energy ist programme" in particular of the trade union bureaucracy fits in perfectly with the line has been summoned to prevent of the Labour leadership and the mobilization of the whole the aims of the bureaucracy?

movement behind organized This sentence seems to have those in struggle. the principle been written on such This is because a that if a lie is sufficiently bare- mobilization would have meant then faced and complete, an openly political struggle of nobody will dare to challenge the whole working class against it! the Tory government, and the question of an alternative gov- been would ernment have raised—a Labour government, with the workers in struggle demanding socialist policies.

We need only to look at the Post Office strike of January- February 1971 and the miners' strike of January 1972, to see In what way does the cam- of the the deliberate policy trade union leaders in attempt- the next Labour govern- ing to isolate the strikers.

ment 'fit in perfectly with the line of the Labour leadership'?

the IMG Therefore, when says that the SLL policy of The line of that leadership "force Tories is not to fight in any the to resign, way to bring about a General Election.

return a Labour government' is to the trade very acceptable They have not led a campaign bureaucracy, they demand around. any union say on this the opposite of the truth. The from the miners' strike issue, and the Housing Finance Bill reason for this distortion, this to the Irish question and the resort to a topsy-turvy world, is to obscure the IMG's own Vietnam war. At no point in the election subservience to the trade union bureaucracy. material put out from Trans- socialist All those centrists, such as House have port the

IMG,

Even the who say policies appeared. simply, Tories' 'encourage the industrial the opposition on main strategy of the Common struggle, so that the working develops its militancy, Market has been confined by class against a Tory or questioning the whether Wilson to Labour government' are openly terms of entry. Not only that, but a whole helping the trade union and Labour bureaucracy in exclud- great section of the right wing ing the working class from the of the social democracy went political over to vote with Heath and necessary experience preserve the Tories and their of forcing the Tories to resign.

IMG,

Common Market, rather than According to the the of the slogan for the day is 'a govern- the decisions accept the Labour Party conference and ment based trade on TUC, let alone advocate unions', and "return the not of Labour government pledged alternative programme to Socialist United States of The IMG is Europe. international part (Pabloism) How can all this be inter- tendency which preted to mean that the SLL's falsely claims the title 'United Top: Post Office workers during the F Secretariat of the Fourth Inter- national'. This tendency split from the Fourth International of Leon Trotsky in 1953, with a programme based on the con- clusion that revolutionary leaderships could not be built in time before the third world war and the struggles for power, so that the Communist Parties would be forced by mass pressure to lead these struggles, thus giving rise to 'centuries workers' states. degenerated of In essence this programme .. IS Top: Post Office workers during the February, 1971 strike. Above: Roy Jenkins—voted with Tories.

capitulation the was Stalinist bureaucracy. In the Pabloites following years, the fashion capitulated similar 1n to the nationalist middle class in the colonial revolution, and the social-democratic re- formists communes were these reformists dominated the working class, like Belgium and Britain. If the IMG now rejects the years of Pabloite 'entrism' into the Labour Party and calls for the trade government unions, it is because they now ove: Roy Jenkins—voted with Tories.

proceed to subordinate them.

selves more directly to the trade union bureaucracy. In this period of big industrial struggles, these centrists find themselves seeking the most effective way of obstructing the political development of the working class; the answer is the crude, anti-political, mili- tant syndicalism which they now propound in the slogan for a workers' government based upon the trade unions'.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

IN ARMS AND RICHES

The imperialists are fall- ing over themselves to visit the Shah of Iran (above), the man respons- ible for the torture and murder of countless poli- tical prisoners and oppo- nents of his regime. On his way home from Moscow and his summit with Soviet leaders, President Nixon found time to pay a 'courtesy call' in Tehran. About a week before came John Davies, secretary of State for Trade and Industry in the reactionary Tory government.

Davies undoubtedly received better treatment than that meted out in Tokyo a few days later. Japan's Finance Minister made it clear he was too busy to meet Davies who had gone there to try and browbeat the Japanese into lowering their import tariffs. Some hopes!

The purpose of the Davies visit was apparently to stimu- late trade between Iran and Britain. To help this he brought with him promises of £50m credit to finance imports from the UK. British imperialism is one of the main props of the Shah's regime. In 1970 Iran exported over £76m worth of goods to the UK. Imports totalled £66.3m. For the oil exported to Britain, Iran received equip- return mostly capital ment aimed at developing the backward Iranian economy.

For example, under licence from Chrysler UK a £36m engine manufacturing plant and foundry has just begun operations. What Davies was promising was more govern- ment-backed loans to British exporters to facilitate further trade. Nevertheless the country remains predominantly agri- cultural. Fifty-eight per cent of the 28.5 million population earn their living directly or indirectly from agriculture, while almost three-quarters of the people depend for their living on the land. As for the gross national in- come, between 40 and 50 per comes from agricultural cent production as against 13-15 per cent for industry (exclud- ing oil revenues). Only about one-tenth of Iran's land surface is arable, the remainder being a vast salt desert in the central and eastern regions. And only one- third • of the arable land is actually cultivated. The peasantry own only 25 per cent of the cultivated land.

The rest is held by the big landlords and the Shah himself.

Iran is the chief guarantor of interests in the American Middle East and as a counter to the nationalist regimes in Iraq and Syria as well as the anti-imperialist struggles the Gulf States. As far back as 1953 the Central Intelligence Agency assisted in the overthrow of the Iranian nationalist govern- ment of Mohamed Mossadeq.

Today US imperialism pro- vides nearly all the weapons and equipment for the Iranian armed forces. The ground forces, which have a strength of about 60,000 regulars and 100,000 conscripts, has the latest American tanks. The airforce has a strength of about 14,000. It is equipped with some 140 American air- craft, including 100 jets.

The rest of the armed forces is made up of 6,000 in the para-military navy and a gendarmerie of about 30,000 men. Despite the reactionary nature of the Iranian regime and the aims of western im- perialism, the Stalinist bureau- cracies remain happy enough with the situation. The Soviet Union is one of the biggest importers of Iranian non-oil exports. Some of the army's weapons are also supplied by Moscow. As for China, it was only last year that they established full diplomatic relations • with political opponents, including supporters of Peking. Both the Soviet Union and China were represented at the lavish celebrations held last October to celebrate 2,500 years of the founding of the Persian Empire. A French lawyer was told by prisoners that they had been tortured by, among other techniques, being placed on a heated metal table. According to Iranians living abroad, the armed resistance Shah's government has to the been organized by two princi- pal groups. The first is the "Siakhal, named after the forest region in Gilan province where their first clash with government forces took place. The group is said to be Maoist-oriented.

Their first skirmish, for which they were unprepared, took place in February 1971 when defeated. they were Thirteen • summary executions followed. Since then the group has blown up railway lines and destroyed American private civil aircraft on the ground.

The second main group is the Organization of combatants of the People of Iran. This affinities with the group has Al Fatah wing of the Palestin- ian liberation movement. It has attacked numerous police stations and banks in the cities. John Davies: visitor Workers Press, 1 Washington columnist Jack Anderson recently revealed the contents of a Central Intelligence Agency report on how Paraguayan dictator Alfred Stroessner granted 'concessions' the on heroin-smuggling trade in to his the Americas military leaders. The four men mentioned in the document are: • General Andres Rodriguez, commander of the first Cavalry in Campo Division, based five miles from the Grande, Paraguayan capital, Asuncion.

• General Patricio Colman, director of the First Infantry Training Centre. • General German Martinez jara, commander of the Para- guart military region. • Rear-Admiral Hugo Gon- zalez, commander of the Para- guayan navy. Before the Jack Anderson story broke in the columns of 'Washington Post' four the copies of the CIA report had already reached Paraguay.

They were addressed to The whole report has never been published. opposition weekly El The Radical' mentioned the report • was immediately threat- and The chief ened with closure. General Francisco of police, told the newspaper's Britez, editor he would get a bullet in the neck if he pursued the matter.

WELL-ARMED

Rodriguez, General Andres to whom the report attached in charge most of the guilt, is of Paraguay's most important military outfit. According to political observers he is the only one of the generals cap- able of overthrowing Stroessner by the simple tactic of mobiliz- ing his troops against Asun- cion. He commands 5,000 well- armed men. It is believed that Rodriguez is the most likely successor to I the old dic- Stroessner, when tator finally decides to relin- quish the power he has held for 18 years. Stroessner once said: 'Con- traband is the price we pay for peace'. In effect by giving the rs Press, Thursday June 8, 1972 PAGE 5 generals the contraband con- cessions he had removed the danger of a possible coup. The generals will enjoy a vast rake-off and will have neither the time nor the inclination to conspire. General Rodriguez, who from a very humble comes family, is now one of the rich- est men in Paraguay. He has huge stock-rearing estates, is head of an airline and controls one of the major sectors of the drugs traffic. At the beginning of this year a reporter and photo- grapher from the Brazilian magazine 'Realidade' flew over one of his estates in the Alto Parana, only about 20 miles from the Brazilian border

MAIN CENTRE

The estate contains one of the clandestine airports used for the international drug trade. The journalists' aircraft was shot at by a Cessna 210 Centurion which took off in pursuit from the general's estate. Later the magazine published pictures of the clandestine air- port which was full of planes and unloading drugs loading for distribution throughout the Americas. Several American news- and magazines have papers said that Paraguay is the main centre for smuggling drugs to the United States. Congressman Jack Mann has said thạt Augusto Jose Ricord, a Franco-Argentine, is respon- sible for more than half the drugs which reach the US.

Ricord is living comfortably as a prisoner in Asuncion. He refuses to pay the bail which would gain him his freedom because he is afraid of being shot. It is believed that Ricord knows too much for many people's comfort. Paraguay also contains huge marijuana plantations, scat- tered throughout the country.

Marijuana is grown on a big scale on estates owned by lead- ing army officers. The plantations are worked by Indians who are paid in meals only. Drugs constitute the biggest factor in Paraguay's invisible earnings.— Prensa Latina. Below: Columnist Jack Ander- son, this time its Paraguay.

PAGE 6 Workors Press, Thursday June 8, 1972

BY JOHN SPENCER

group of landowners The Indians of the Brazilian experts estimate that Interior, had nimse t reported Anotner decimation that Service had become an hired a well-known bandit at the rate being sys- Amazon are Indians' Canelas Indians, the for the exterminate the Dast ycals. fils Villl tribe tematically destroyed by Indian will be destroyed by 1980.

oppression. wire anallutid militar the government is The Minat crimes discovered, for were down by machine-

LIUW 16

the rapacious expansion committed example. that 'Noven more horrible was the through of Brazilian capitalism. driving bv certain ex-functionaires of IPS Indians' jungle areas. amounted to more than 1,000, late or ine ratacnos beginning At the of the The Transamazonian from tearing out Indian to kil teem oec given injections of smallpox highway Lalisilis century they were estimated the deep them mueennails land-grabbing interior to and die without assistance. The photographs on this page to number around 6 million.

is certain mining interests, but At Aripuana, on the show the rapid demoralization western Disease, demoralization and and destruction of the Indians at border of Brazil, the Cintas acceierale Auling genocide have reduced this were Indians. Largas Indians une nanas ol blackial cabilailoil.

figure to a maximum 100,000.

One of the most active agencies from the air with sticks of They are taken from exhibition currently at the Insti- dynamite The indians have been gunned in this process has been the gov- Maxacali Indians tute of Contemporary Arts of the greedy down by landowners, ernment s own inalan rrotecuon wyere of Hungarian photographer into virtual Service'. given cheap alcohol by the land- WOrK This who employed Ata Kando. ravaged body was dissolvéd owners, gunmen exploiters Dy She documented the 1968 has drink and specu- Gen to shoot them down when they ontaien Dy aute nonomeroue onslaught tribes — lators of all kinds. Lima, the Minister of the were drunk. against Above left: not allowed to go naked in the mission station, Indian women are taught LO make clothes. right:

TOD

community of families live under beside one Above: sick windscreens. Indian mother with her child the Communal House of Lett: the Makiritare tribe. how 1 hee ranging duces to ome reduced proud, some- …owest rank or numanıly times in a space _oi only two considerable role in this process is played by the mission- American non-conformist aries. jungle areas missionaries in some have been accused of setting virtual slave camps for the Illuldin some of these camps the AT missionaires behind barbed rotect themselyes They have wire. of destroying the Indians Subs cel perate subsistence economy -driving them to work at low them food wages and selling the current inflated prices.

This leaves the Indians with items like for other they cooking

POIS

forced to accept the mission's and the hand-outs clothing Workers

PTO

The clothing, which is never changed, produces skin soon disease among people who have gone naked all their lives.

The Indians are soon reduced to complete dependence on their 'benefactors' and their way of destroyed, life is irrevocably opening the way for the introduc- tion of straightforward capitalist relationships and the conversion of the Indians into a source of cheap wage-labour. Various liberal protest groups have recently begun an agitation genocide the of the against Indians in Brazil. Such campaigns are wasted on the military regime, which continues its secret war Indians against the while periodically denouncing its own corrupt agents. In reality the fate of the Amazon tribes is a direct result of the introduction of capitalist property relations into these pre- viously unexplored regions.

Rosa Luxemburg graphically described the break up of 'natu- ral economy' under the impact of capitalism in her book "The Accumulation of Capital'.

She wrote that: 'Capital in its struggle against societies with a natural economy the pursues following ends: (1) To gain immediate posses- sion of important sources of pro- ductive forces such as land, game kers Press, Thursday June 8, 1972 PAGE 7 in primeval forests, minerals, pre- cious stones and ores, products of exotic flora such as rubber, etc. "(2) To "liberate" labour power and coerce it into service.

'(3) To introduce a commodity economy. agricultu separate trade and (4) To She added: 'Any hope to res- trict the accumulation of capital exclusively to "peaceful competi- tion" i.e. to regular commodity exchange such as takes place capitalist between producer on the countries, rests pious belief that capital can accumu- without mediation of the late forces and productive without the demand of more primitive organizations, and that it can rely upon the slow internal pro- cess of a disintegrating natural economy... 'Force is the only solution open to capital; the accumulation of capital, seen as an historical pro- employs force as a per- cess, manent weapon, not only at its genesis, but further on down to the present day. 'From the point of view of the involved, primitive societies is a matter of life or death; for them there can be no other attitude than opposition and fight to the finish-complete exhaus- tion and extinction..?

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Thursday June 8, 1972 Chairman Jim Slater of investment conglomerate Slater Walker Securities is almost ready to launch his attack on Europe. have been Executives appointed in Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. And negoti- advanced ations in an are stage to acquire two financi- ally-orientated European com- panies. It has always been one of Slater's long-term aims to He must feel enter Europe. now that the investment com- bine is in good shape for the operations. Last week he announced yet another record in increase profits for the year 1971.

And the trend continued during the first four months of this year.

15 months Over the last Slater Walker has been rationalizing its in assets for EEC preparation entry. By the end of 1971 the com- had virtually divested pany itself of its direct industrial in order interests to concen- trate on developing its bank- ing, investment, property, and insurance overseas activities. The Slater concept is that all these activities are non labour-intensive, expanding and international in their are scope. Slater's cash resources have been substantially increased following £16m the recent Eurobond issue and the sale of further investments. Arrange- ments are now going ahead to the firm's legal increase borrowing capacity. shouldn't be long now It before the fastest mover on London Exchange the Stock proves his virtuosity on the Top: Peter Walker. Above Jim Slater Paris Bourse.

TWO PAMPHLETS AND

A MAGAZINE

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(Post 3gp) 'The Social Securlty Swindle' by Bernard Franks. A useful hand- book in the SLL pocket library on state restrictions on series social security. 5p. (Post 2}p) All avallable New three from: Publications, 186a, Clap- Park ham High St, London SW4 7UG.

TORIES ATTACK

The Social Security Swindle

A YOUNG SOCIALISTS PAMPHLET

WITH the intensification of the trade war accom- panying the turn-down in world trade, the big ship- ping companies are still hard put to avoid an all- out freight war. The battle-scene is the key North Atlantic route. It runs mainly from Boston and New York and Norfolk, Virginia, to Great Britain, northern Europe and the Scandinavian countries.

OVER-TONNAGE

The freely admit companies that the real key to the prob- 'over-tonnage'. lem is In plain language this there means are many containerships for the too business available. The other week the presidents of United States and seven foreign shipping companies met in Cannes, the South of in France, and agreed to continue their moratorium on a rate war.

The cease-fire was not the only decision they took, however. The executive's major decision was to make a special filing with the US Federal Maritime Commission

(FMC).

asking mission t the FMe to deal wit it they "independent' with ten ocean freight operators, who, they claim are the villains behind the wide- spread rate-cutting on the North Atlantic route. The trouble for the big seven has been exacerbated in the past "mavericks' because these ten were outside the long-standing freight conferences. The conferences are in reality cartels of US and foreign lines that join on freight-rate actions. The big seven containership companies want to extend an olive branch to the smaller and want them to independents, the conference. join The they seeking reason are the FMC's permission to try Is and get round the US anti-trust lim Slater—going into Europe laws. A JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MARXISM PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATI Volume 7 No. 3 Price 25 per Editorial: Class War and the Mass Party Draft International Perspective of the Fourth Internation The 'North Atlantic pool' was Of formed by the big companies exactly one year ago and brought to a temporary halt the freight- cutting war that had raged on the North Atlantic since 1969.

The pool is still subject to the approval of the FMC and mem- bers of the proposed combine are worried that this process of recognition will take another year to complete. Meanwhile, most of them say they are not making any profit on the trade route because of the depressed rates. Under the pool plan, members • fixed share of the would get a North Atlantic container freight company would revenue. Each use each other's containers.

the period of open During hostility between • the big com- panies and the independents, the latter chose to carry cut-throat competition to its logical end.

to the chagrin of the Much established firms, under-the-table rebates of 30 cent were per common and rate discounts of 30 per cent were the fashion.

In addition, some companies would absorb inland transport charges to win customers, or gave customers the use of some containers free if they would use a certain number more.

HOSTILITY

The idea of a pool is meeting a certain amount of hostility companies' from the shipping They feel that the customers. shippers will gang up and main- tain high rates even when trade is stagnant. As one traffic manager put it: 'We do not like the idea of a pool. It is a cartel.' He preferred the traditional use of freight conferences for rate setting so he could get some assurance that competitive companies were pay- ing the same as his company.

In reality of the ever-deepening economic crisis, together with the clash of interests between shipping companies and cus- tomers, the freight-rate war will undoubtedly go on.

BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL

Spring 1972 rice 25 pence Perspectives International

BY IAN YEATS

We have always said Peregrine Worsthorne is one of the most clear- sighted observers of the class scene. His article in last week's 'Sunday Telegraph' did nothing to change this view. He begins: 'The big surprise about the present state of Britain is the extraordinarily militant mood of industrial workers. 'The truth should be faced that in many ways the class war is more of a reality today than it was before the war.'

He goes on to explain: 'The scale and scope of practicable social and economic advance, whichever party was in power, could never hope to end the class war. 'All it could do and has done is to enable the workers to fight it from a far firmer base and with infinitely sharper and more deadly weapons. 'What in fact the welfare state and affluent society have is a increasingly achieved climate of economic security and social wellbeing in which for the first time, people can afford to be bloody- minded. 'The truth is that given society's present social values the discontented working class has more confidence in the justice of its cause than does the discontented middle class and is prepared to fight harder and longer. 'The Industrial Relations Act may place legal obstacles in the unions' way. But if they have the will to surmount them there is no avoiding the moment of truth at the end.

.. instead of being the uneducated • and underfed industrial rabble of the 1930s they [the workers] are a disci- plined industrial army with plenty of supplies, a competent general staff and high morale.

'The emotions of the class war are still as fierce as ever.

What is new now is that the conditions exist for them to be put into far more effective action.' All of this amounts to a warning of Powellite dimen- sions and drama. It is almost a shock to find this kind of icy clarity outside the pages of the Workers Press. We do not agree of course with everything he says—especially phrases like 'competent general staff. The bourgeoisie is worried, not least of all by the Tory government's ability to cope.

Refering to the mood of the Worsthorne working class says: 'The Prime Minister, like his Labour predecessor, con- sistently underestimates the intensity of these feelings, pre- ferring to believe that the ank and file or silent majority of union members do not share leaders' extremist their attitudes. 'The result of the rail ballot does not support this com- assumption. On the placent it that contrary, suggests bloody-mindedness is both deep and widespread.' will not be without significance that on the same page of the paper—its leader William page-Tory MP Deedes quotes Heath's now-

ACPA

famous civil war speech to the UN warning that this may be 'the main danger we face'.

Once again it is almost a surprise to find the pieces Press has Workers been putting together for weeks published in cold print in the Tory press. It there. The all was experiences of the army in Ulster, Frank Kitson and his 'Low Intensity Operations', the battle of Saltley power station, the prospect of a General Strike. And there were two or three snippets of additional inform- ation. Camberley (military Staff . College has been comparing notes with Chief Constables, Bramshill Police College has been training recruits to think strategically and top men are thinking about forging links between army and police 'intelligence' not actually Deedes does advocate using the army to quell civil and industrial dis- order, but he asks a series of rhetorical questions which leave no doubt that, as he says. 'a nation is not obliged stand idly by and watch to being subverted'. itself Neither of them actually says the class war is on and this is the way to deal with it, but these high priests of the Tory press leave no doubt that the bourgeoisie are becoming much more class conscious-fast.

Above: Peregrine Worsthorne- 'class war is more of a reality today? Below: Saltley incident, where engineers joined miners to shut down the coke depot.

iTD

HELLEY

Workers Press, One of the jobs you won't find advertised at your local labour exchange, or anywhere else for that matter, is that of a company chairman. Unless they sack themselves, which is unlikely, they seem content to keep the chair and the loot that goes with it. Labour Research has just compiled a list of 35 company chairman who were paid a salary of £30,000 or more last year. Between them they raked in the paltry sum of £1,406,134. Undoubtedly an inspiration to all Shell employees was their chairman Sir David Barran. He won the league with £76,705 or £1,475 a week. With the price of petrol what it is, he probably needs the money. O. A. Aisher of the building giant Marley came second. He only managed £62,000. Mind hadn't waived you, if he another £102,000 he would have finished top. Others who never banked so much were helped off the breadline by dividends on shares they owned in their own companies. Joseph For example, poor Rank, paid only £41,700 as chairman, owns 144,850 shares in Fanks, Hovis, McDougall. He would have earned an extra £11,588 on these last year to make ends meet. Plessey workers will be able to take comfort from chair- man Sir John Clark's well- being. As the owner of no less than 1,972,031 shares he received 1 £98,601 on top of the £45,000 paid to him as a director. For those on piece- work I make that £69.02 an hour. Chairman of Joseph Lucas, K. S. F. Corley managed to pick up £40,000 last year while Leyland's Lord Stokes did slightly better (though not much) with £46,060. Beer drinkers will be pleased to know F. D. Nicholson of Vaux Breweries drunk them out of £52,121. And just to make sure our hard-working, deserving chair- men didn't go too short in 1971 (remember prices were rising) many of them thought it a good idea to maintain directorships on other com- panies. Thus Sir Joseph Lockwood of EMI (only on £32,000 felt it best to encourage his 24 directorships, including the Beecham Group, British Domestic Appliances, the Hawker Siddeley Group, the ‹ers Press, Thursday June 8, 1972 PAGE 9 Laird Group and Smiths Industries. Finally, sadly to report the sacking of two directors from Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers last year. Apparently both were un- moved by the £110,000 com- pensation each of them got.

Nothing better to do tonight?

Then why not stroll down to "The Spotted Dog', in Wands- worth. Roger Protz, editor of Inter- national Socialism's 'Socialist Worker', is giving a talk on a really vital subject in these days of Tory attack on the unions, Moscow-Washington secret diplomacy and stepping- up of the Vietnam war. It's illustrated, too. Protz's chosen topic? Mod- jazz. He's obviously got ern nothing better to do. As a score or more Memorial Day golfers watched, a man was shot to death when he scuffled with a special guard who questioned whether he had a pass to play at the Delaware Park golf course.

According to police lieutenant Leo Donovan, wit- nesses said the guard, Solomon Fletcher (37) placed . John R. Mosley (41) under arrest when the two argued and then scuffled at the first tee over Mr Mosley's apparent lack of a pass Witnesses told police that Mr Fletcher tried to handcuff and they con- Mr Mosley tinued fighting as the officer led him away from the tee.

Mr Fletcher's .38-calibrc service revolver was then drawn, they said, and when the two were 30 feet from the tee, a shot was fired into Mr Mosley's chest. He was dead on arrival in hospital. 'New York Herald Tribune', May 31.

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PAGE 10 Workers Press, Thursday June 8, 1972 Sack firm's Glasgow call profits on -force Tories the slide

HALF-YEARLY

profits for Hoffman and Pol- Kansome. out to get lard—the ball-bearings manu- sacked 1,500 facturers who men last week-have dropped below the flm mark. axed 700 jobs- ine comupany back October, decent homes ano nOW workers at several plants affected they cut-backs to wwork ov une say intend to anter muell notices have expired. profit for the six ric-las months March tell trom eneled By our own reporter £1.3m to £857,000 and directors say there is little chance of busi- GERRY SHERIDAN is ness recover y They cite the depressea stale 23 and has lived with his of the machinp-tool, agricultural- commercial wife in a tenement flat in Hacunuciy. ucayy and venicles general-engineehng Maryhill, Glasgow, for the for the in profits. slide three-and-a-half years. Their trading position has been aggravated by Japanese competi- During this time the con- and by the US currency tion ditions of the LeHCUCIE which affected the reduzulcils. deteri- continued have _ to earnings

OT ONTO

Alican, Aus- tralian and US subsidiaries. orate. Repairs have not been carried out. Gerry has organized 64 fami- her wın od ece ccy Electrical firm into a committee to fight against the sub-standard housing condi- plunges into red are forced which they uons ln chairman of to live. He is now the Maryhill Road Tenants' being

THE

FALL

in ea Ultra Committee. A petition Is

TOH

capital goods plunged cczed eàn ve £313,270 the area for signature and presenta- Electronics into tine peritio ende ee reo HaST year, accoraing to d report out yesterday. Re veo• redos. undersigned, hereby declare the houses in which we live to be with substandard. urpicseal HULL DOCKS almost ground to day existence ın this area aimost sutered by the Vietorian divorks conditions a halt yesterday when 1,000 rail- walked wav unlon Gocks StaiT out to stage a mass meting 1ng class frcm the National 'We feel that our houses should be condemned immedi- Union ot Kallwaymen were gıvin; because of these the men ine latest report on a alely alrosious dispute over voluntary sever- conditions, in which three tami- ance payments for 260 tole t, have to share butside men. and some of the houses About 200 jobs to go by are od doks. tal close down two rats and are overrun _olters docks. Talks have broken also full of dampness.' Gerry heridan's home onsists down and the men are threatening of a room. kitchen and toilet cut- Dousta acuoR. Subscribe! The dally paper that ds the workers press against the Tories. :20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) '6 months (156 issues) £5.07 for 3 months (78 lssu0s) If you want to take Workers Proas twice a waok the rales are: {1.58 for 3 months (24 issues ) £6.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Fill in the form below NOW and send to: Girculation Dapt, Wanden, SWi UBáa Clapham High St., I would like to take out a subscription to orkers Press.

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Name Address side on the stairway-shared with two other families. He told Workers Press that.

there are two such flats on each floor of the three-storey tene- ment, and between the two "single end' (a one-roomed house).

We attended a Said Gerry: meeting called by another ten- ants' committee formed in the Gairbraid Road area, at the top of Maryhill. 'Labour councillors were there.

All kinds of promises. were made, but all that happened was the supply of new bins and a visit from the rat-catcher. It was iust a case of throwing crumbs to to keep the people peasants quiet, but we are not prepared to accept this. 'At the meeting the tenants were told that these tenements would be condemned in three years' time, but we want them condemned now. And we want to be re-housed in decent condi- tions, not transferred to other old property or run-down hous- ing schemes. "This property is over 100 years old. 'The people around here lie awake with torches at night for fear of rats. The houses are damp. The roof of one toilet lapsed some time ago and has not yet been repaired. The cis- of another toilet takes cne tern hour to fill up after flushing the toilet. Imagine what that means when three families have to share one toilet! "This is no place to bring up children. Because of fear dysentery, mothers try to keep their young children from using the shared toilets. 'At the back of the tenements there is a lane to provide access for corporation refuse collection vehicles. An old sewer overflows into this lane and trequently flows into the back courts. Nothing is done about repairing mains of old wash houses, con- stitute a constant danger to children. 'The rents have been controlled until now, but unless a compul- sory purchase order is put into The Glasgow tenants are organizing. He Despite the appalling conditions in whi fear their rents m forced to iive, they Housing Finance Bill effect by the corporation we are afraid that the rents will increase under the new rent Act. 'We want the corporation to immediately take out a compul- sory purchase order, condemn the property and rehouse the tenants in decent homes in areas of their own choice. "That-is why we have set up this committee. A similar com- mittee was set up in Gairbraid Road. They organized a demon- stration to the housing depart• ment and got a lot of publicity.

As a result many of the tenants in that area have been rehoused.

'Another committee has also been started in Oran Street, lower down Maryhill and we have heard that in other areas of Glasgow more committees are being formed. nizing. Here are the sort of conditions they ar ns in which many Glasgow tenants are r rents must Increase because of the 'But each committee is separate.

There is no centralization and there is need for organization.

'When I attended a meeting of the All Trades Unions Alliance, I was very interested in the dis- cussion on forming Councils of Action. It seems to me that the which are tenants' committees being formed small " are like councils of action, but we need support in our fight for wider better housıng , This could come through the Councils of Action such as were discussed by the

ATUA.

I also agree with the call for them to force the Tories out and a Labour government return pledged to socialist policies. This is really the only way to provide everyone with adequate housing?

ns they are organizing against

BBC 1

9.20 Mr Benn. 9.30, 2.05 Schools.

11.20 Cricket. 1.30 Joe. 1.45 News, weather. 2.25 Cricket. 4.15 Play School. 4.40 Magic Round- about. 4.45 Jackanory. 4.55 Blue Peter. 5.20 Boss Cat. 5.44 Hec- tor's House. 5.50 News, weather.

6.00 NATIONWIDE.

6.45 WHERE IN THE WORLD.

Travel Quiz. 7.00 SPY TRAP. Who Among

7.25 TOP OF THE POPS.

8.00 THE GOODIES.

8.30 THAT MONDAY MORN-

ING FEELING. 3: The Detectives. 9.00 NEWS, Weather.

9.20 ELIZABETH R.

Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth I in The Lion's Cub.

10.45 24 HOURS.

OF HARD-

11.30 MISTRESS

WICK. 8:

This Costly 11. Countess.

BBC 2

11.00 Play School. 4.30 Cricket.

6.35 Working with Youth.

7.05 OPEN UNIVERSITY.

7.30 NEWSROOM, Weather. 8.00 EUROPA. Animal Crackers. A not too seri- ous look at mankind and relationship with his animals.

8.30 THE GOLDEN BOWL.

By Henry James. Fanny has smashed the Golden Bowl saying she considers Charlotte and the Prince above suspicion. Maggie now faces the Prince with By our industrial correspondent THREE trade unionists yesterday gave evidence for the police in the trial of 13 miners who are charged with mobbing and rioting when picket- ing outside Longannet power station during the miners' strike. The evidence came on the second day of the trial being held at Dunfermline sheriff court, Fife. All 13 defendants have pleaded not guilty. Robert Archibold, of Oakley, Fife, a conveyor operator and General and member of the Municipal Workers' Union, told the court: 'Our instructions were back to go to work, but to turn if there was any trouble.'

Archibold said he was a pas- senger in a car driven by another power-station worker on Febru- ary 14, the day of the alleged offences. 'As we turned off the main road on the service road to the power station, we saw there was huge crowd of pickets-I think in the region of about 2,000—standing at the side of the road. 'Some of the police were lining the pickets. The pickets behind the police lines. were 'Our driver stopped as usual at the signal of a police officer, and two three delegates (miners) came and spoke to him.

They asked us to turn back and

CORRECTION

YESTERDAY'S 'Workers Note- book' incorrectly described Fred Gore, from London airport, as Communist . Party shop steward'. This is incorrect and we apologize for the error. Mr Gore is in fact a member of the Labour Party.

ITV

10.20, 1.40 Schools. 1.10 Remem- ber. 2.30 Good Afternoon. 3.00 Epsom Racing. 4.25 Cartoon. 4.40 Nuts and Bones. 4.55 Secret Squirrel. 5.20 Magpie. 5.50 News.

6.00 TODAY.

6.40 CROSSROADS.

7.05 FILM:'NO TIME TO

DIE': Victor Mature, Leo Anthony Newley. fugitives find themselves up against more than the official enemy in the North African wilderness. 9.00

NEAREST AND DEAR-

EST. A Place in the Sun. 9.30

THIS WEEK.

10.00

NEWS.

10.30 CINEMA. Alan Bates. RD- 11.00

MOTORWAY.

stly 11.30 ONLY ONE EARTH. The Poor and the Rich World. the remains of the Bowl.

9.20 SHOW OF THE WEEK:

MORECAMBE

AND

WISE.

10.05 YESTERDAY'S WITNESS.

The Great Blizzard of 1891. 10.35

NEWS,

Weather, Cricket Highlights. WORLD CINEMA: 'Viri- diana'. An innocent young novice is about to take her final vows. On here last visit home she comes face with brutal realities of life.

support them. We said we wanted to go in.' Eventually he turned back, he told the court, because to go 'The crowd was much larger that morning : than it had ever been, and was jostling about and jeering', he said. defending QC Fred O'Brien, three of the accused miners, asked whether he was threatened with physical violence. 'No,' said Archibold. When you stopped, were the police holding back the pickets?'

'Yes'. 'And the road was open in front of you for the car to drive through?' 'Yes.' Maintenance fitter, George Ferguson, member of the à Amalgamated Union of Engin- eering Workers, said he was driving alone in his car to work.

As he approached the power station gates he was spoken to by a miners' delegate. 'He told me if I went any further I would have my car overturned, Ferguson said.

"The pickets who spoke to me shouted, "Stop him, he's going was a roar and I in" There could see the pickets pushing at the police lines trying to close the road again.' He said he managed to enter the station by driving quite fast'. Ferguson said his union had instructed him to go to work.

Plant driver Alexander Simp- another member of the son, G&MWU, told the court he had been told to go to work. As he approached the power station pickets had called out "Go home' and 'Blackleg'. He decided not to go on because we thought there was a danger of getting our car overturned, or a brick or something like that. We did not know what to expect'. Glenda Jackson as Princess Elizabet 'Elizabeth R', BBC-2

REGIONAL TV

2.32 Racing. Nuts 4.18 Puffin. 4.20 Funny bones. 4.50 Skippy. 5.20 London.

face. 6.00 News, weather. 6.10 Hogan's 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 heroes. Film: 'The Searchers'. 9.00 Lon- don. 10.30 Maverick. 11.20 News, weather. WESTWARD. As Channel ex- cept: 3.55 Gus Honeybun. 6.00 Diary. 10.30 Report. 10.59 News, weather. 11.03 Theatre of stars.

11.55 Faith for life. SOUTHERN: 2.30 London. 4.00 Sean. Houseparty 4.55 Richard Lion- Crossroads. heart. 5.20 London. 6.00 Day by day. 6.45 Dr Simon Locke. 7.15 Film: 'Fortune is a Woman'. 9.00 London. 11.00 News. 11.10 Film: Mystery. 12.00 'House of Weather. Insight to the artist.

HTV: 10.20 Schools. 2.32 Racing 3.30 • Enchanted house. 3.45 Dr Simon Locke. 4.15 Tinkertain- 4.30 Crossroads. 4.55 ment. Police Constable David McLeod of Dunfermline said there were about 2,000 outside the station on February 14. 'There appeared to be a lot more militancy. It was impossible to identify any specific person, but it seemed apparent that people among the pickets were causing others to become a little more violent. 'I got the impression they were trying to rouse up the crowd,' he said. The trial continues today.

profits drop BRITISH-LEYLAND yesterday reported a drop of £2 in their half-yearly pre-tax profit returns for the six months to March. The f7.2m profit for the last six months compares with £9.5m for the same period last year.

Leyland chairman Lord Stokes was optimistic yesterday about the situation. 'Given reasonable continuity of production, profits should be close to last year's level, he predicted. There was 'an almost pent-up demand' for cars in Bri- tain, he said. The biggest problem, however, industrial relations. was thought British-Leyland had "made considerable progress' and 49 per cent if its hourly-paid workers had switched to a new form of payment. In the 12 months to the end of March, 12 major strikes had cost the group 5,200 man-hours.

If the factories had been working full time, he said, 'we could have had a bonanza'. Workers Press, Thursday June 8, 1972 PAGE 11 Racing. 4.30 Romper room. 4.50 5.20 London. News. 4:55 Arthur. 6.35 6.00 News. 6.10 Partners mon Crossroads. 7.00 Locke. 7.30 Film: "Mr Belvedere Rings the Bell'. 9.00 London. 11.00 Avengers. . Schools.

YORKSHIRE:

11.00 2.32 London. 3.55 Music. 4.10 4.15 Crossroads. News. 4.40 Nuts 4.55 and bones. Bugs Bunny. 5.20 London. 6.00 Calen- dar, 6.30 Smith family. weather. 7.00 Cartoon. 7.10 Six days. 9.00 London. 10.30 Sport. 11.05 Cinema. justice. 12.40 Weather. 12.05 Scales of justice. 12.40 GRANADA: 11.00 Schools. 2.30 3.55 Camera Racing. in action. News. 4.10 4.40 Peyton Place. Nuts bones. 4.50 Make a and 5.15 London. 6.00 News. wish. 6.25 I dream Jeannie. ( 7.00 of Sky's the limit. 7.30 Film: 'Blue- 9.00 London. der. 8.50 Sylvester. • Elizabeth in the first instalment of London. 11.00 On the line. 11.30 Whiplash. TYNE TEES: 11.00 Schools.

1.10 Songs. 1.40 Schools. 2.32 Good afternoon. 3.00 3.55 Racing Clapperboard. 5.20 London.

6.01 4.10 Music. News. 4.15 Cross- Report West. 6.18 Report Wales.

roads. 4.40 Nuts and bones. 4.55 7.10 6.35 Sky's the limit. Film: Rovers. 5.20 London. 6.00 «Thunder Valley. 9.00 in the 7.00 Pop- day. 6.30 Smith family. 10.30 One London. dark 7.10 Six 9.00 London. morn- 10.30 days. 11.15 12.15 Weather. ing. Saint. Sport. 11.00 Police call.

HTV

Wales

HTV

Cymru/ and 11.05 Cinema. 11.35 Drive in. Wales as above except: 4.15 Miri 12.00 News. 12.15 Revolving Mawr. 6.01 Y Dydd. chair. HTV West as above except: 6.18

SCOTTISH: 11.00,

1.40 Schools. 2.32 Racing. Sport West. 3.30 Once upon 4.10 Date- 3.45 Crossroads. time.

ANGLIA:

2.30 London. 4.10 Fireball. line. 5.20 London. 4.55 4.15 Jimmy Stewart. 4.40 News. Dateline. 6.00 6.15 A place of Paulus. 4.55 Skippy. 5.20 London.

7.00 Film: 'One her own. 6.00 About Anglia. 6.20 Arena. Too Many'. 9.00 London. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Film: 11.05 Expansions. 11.30 Late call. 'Battle of the Vl'. 9.00 London. Beagan Gaidhlig. Captain's 10.30 11.05 country. Cinema. GRAMPIAN: 11.00 Schools. 2.32 11.35 Avengers. Racing. 4.00 News. 4.03 Job

ATV

MIDLANDS:

2.32 Racing. Look. 4.10 Women. 4.40 Nuts 4.05 Horoscope. 4.10 Women. and bones. 4.55 Rumblie Jumblie.

4.40 Rupert Bear. 4.55 Preten- 6.00 News, 5.20 London. weather. ders. 5.20 London. 6.00 Today. 6.05 Folk 6.35 afore Cross- 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Sky's the Andy. 7.00 7.30 Film: roads. 7.30 9.00 limit. Film: 'Rhino'. 'Dangerous Moonlight'. 9.00 Lon- London. 11.00 O'Hara. don. 11,00 Viewfinder. 11.35 ULSTER: 10.20 Schools. 2.32 Survival. 12.00 Epilogue.

By Ian Yeats 'technically' in breach of the Industrial Relations Act. DESPITE engineers' leader So

AUEW

officials have far Hugh Scanlon's persistent con- at the court, but not appeared demnation of the Tory the line between refusing to co- anti- with it while studiously operate union law and the National obeying it to say the least, 1S, Industrial Relations Court, his thin. The have union has accepted the NIRC's engineers already been weakened by abandoning a advice. fight their national wage claim in favour of the disastrous In to Sir John response policy of plant bargaining.

Donaldson's tip last Monday, the Meanwhile, in the Appeal Court have union's executive decided the AUEW in London yesterday, to bring an official strike by 18 Expanded was ordered not to take further welders at the Metal for the Co's works, Hartlepool, into line industrial action next seven days at the Hartlepool fac- with the Act. of Ex- tory. On the application The welders have been told to panded Metal, the court granted give seven notice of their days the temporary order against 13-week-old strike over a parity and a full hearing will union claim so that they are no longer begin within the next week. The eight-page youth paper Plenty of views and news, which leads the fight against features at 3p a copy. to government tries for the Order your regular copy now.

the right work, Yearly subscription £2.86.

schools and the dole Send to Keep Left, on queues. 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UG. Please send me 'Keep Left' for one year I enclose £2.86 Name. Address

PAGE 12 Workers Press, Thursday June

TRIANG

workers at Merton, South London, were bitterly angry yes- terday with Barclay Secu- rities' announcement that their plant is to close- putting the 1,500-strong workforce on the dole. The decision comes only four months after Barclay closed down three other toy factories at Erith, Redcar and Harborne-part of its Sebel subsidiary-throwing almost 1,000 out of work. Said Terence Lock from Triang's maintenance department: 'This is property speculation. The lives of 1,500 people have been in jeopardy. The company has literally sold human flesh.

Terence, who has three children, regards the closure as part of the Tory system that needs three- people on quarters of a million the dole to keep itself stable. He Goss; 'Money men i make Frank move, we lose everything' Bill Anns; 'A bombshell'

LATE NEWS

JOHN BENTLEY, a 32-year-old finance entrepreneur, has just carved up his toy empire making £2m for himself and throwing 1,500 men and women out of work. The deal-and several others like it recently— established Bentley as the foremost assets stripper now operating in the City of London.

a protege of Jim Slater, Bentley, who is the head of Slater Walker Securities, has acquired a personal fortune of between £2m and £3m since he set up in his own finance house, Barclay Securities.

In this period of capitalist crisis men like Bentley find profits not in building industries—but by dis- them. In this report SARAH HANNIGAN mantling talks to the men who Bentley has abruptly sacked MITCHELL examines 'the implications of and ALEX his latest 'deal'. has been told he has a job until workers and supervisory staff.

Christmas, but will then have to 'We want to have total repre- look elsewhere. sentation because name, number He told me: 'Until we have got and rank nothing when means end to this sort of you're all outside the gate.

an govern- ment system there is nothing we "The workers on the site are 'That's Ted Heath and can do. all very bitter. We were led to his government for you,' a friend believe in January that we would added bitterly. viable company. be We have Bill Anns, Amalgamated Union never had any intimation that of Engineering Workers convenor would be otherwise. we worked 41 years at Merton, has 'The average man in the fac- on the site, first for Lines Bro- tory feels he is just a pawn in Barclay Securi- thers, then fer trades then for this giant game of chess.

convenor, ties. 'Since the inception of the new Frank Goss has served 32 years. company, production has gone leader told The engineers' Workers here transferred up. "The Workers yesterday: Press their lovalties family from attitude in the far company, like Lines Bros was, to as the workers are concerned is this giant group. shock with the fact. that this •But today they no longer put has all happened in a very short money into business in the hope space of time. that trade will go up. 'What have done they is •You have got to show a profit.

good as dropped a bombshell on this works. 'The four convenors on the site were called in pose the man see ment at yesterday. .50 p.m. the bare facts were only given and the reasons for closure.

'At the moment are not we with negotiating management, because it's come as such a sur- prise that nothing has been for- mulated from the union point of view. We have to await develop- and have see exactly ments TO what the position is. 'We've been told that this site will be totally closed, and that 92 personnel-1.500 cent of per - will be put out between workers- now and some time in August.

•We have had a John Bentley factory meet- We have only ing this morning. BITTERNESS at Merton is told them what we told tell understandable. ourselves--we could onl told them what we were In a complex series of deals, Our. selves.' Bentley has shut down one Frank explained: 'We have for- factory, sold another and kept med an action committee repre- profitable the group's most senting all the unions on the site plant at Merthyr Tydfil. and all grades-labourers, craft The Welsh operation will now become the scene of more in- tense exploitation of the work- force. The area is already hit by

WEATHER

than unemployment more comes out of the tre- Bentley A

DEPRESSION

will remain organization' having made slow-moving off North Scotland whopping profit. will and a trough move east In the space of seven months across most districts during the he has recouped entirely the day. for Triang. He price he paid Eastern Scotland Central and bought the bankrupt firm from and North-East England will have the liquidator for £5.28m.

prolonged occasionally showers, In the latest asset-stripping, he but with in the north, sunny stands to raise €5.7m and still be intervals. left with a substantial Much of England, except the propor- tion of the original Triang north-east and the south-west, operation. but will start bright or sunny, The deals are as follows: Northern cloud and rain over • The Merton Triang factory in Wales and South-West Ireland, South London is to close down, England will spread east during throwing. 1,500 employees out of the day. work. It will be followed by brighter The 22-acre Merton is site these conditions, hut not being bought from Barclay Se. reach East Anglia and likely to curities for £3.3m by a property the south-east before the end of When investment the day. It will continue rather company. factory Bentley purchased the cool. last November, the property was

NEWS DESK

valued at £1.5m. On the Merton land deal alone he has made 01-720 2000 cool f18m.

CIRCULATION

• The f3.3m. for the site will be 01-622 7029 Daid -by Town and City Prover- ties, and a new company will be set up to develop it. Bentley has Press. taken a 40 per cent stake in the Clapham

SW4 7UG

new company. Ltd. (TU). (TU). The Triang Pedigree wooden High Street, toys and nursery goods business, SW4

JUG.

Triang, Merton, pictured yesterday So they raise the money by sell- ing the land. They make can more money by employing no- body. They make a profit out of the ground that we stood on.

"The men with the money have made more money and the men nothing have lost. every- with thing? Bill Anns took up the story.

'The only argument that the directors put forward is the fact that they cannot get back into the sales market, he said.

"They have accumulated large stocks since the takeover, but they cannot get into the sales market to realize cash on their production. carried out at Merton, is to be sold to Goodwood Playthings for £225,000, and production will be transferred to Goodwood's fac- tory. • Negotiations are to commence immediately for the sale of Mer- ton's remaining division - the Pedigree pram business, which is worth substantially more than the wooden toys. • The Triang Pedigree adult bi- cycle business in Birmingham has been sold to Raleigh Industries for about £800,000 cash. The deal excludes the Triang and Pedigree trade names and some £400,000 of stocks to be retained and sold by Barclay separately.

Announcement of the ruthless dealing has sent a shiver down the backs of workers in the film industry. Bentley recently purchased INITED GLASS Engineer- ing Ltd is closing down its recently-opened new factory on the Blackpool Road, Pres- ton. Men at the works say that there were 40 redundancies out of a labour force of 140 on March 17. At that time Norman Gledhall, one of the company's chief executives, came to tell the men there would be no more lay-offs. Now they have been told that 37 more will have to go on Aug- ust 4, and six apprentices have been sacked on the excuse that their work wa snot good enough.

The men have also been told that the new factory will be closed and all remaining work concentrated in the old works at Marsh Lane, Preston. The company is owned 75 per cent by Distillers Ltd and 25 per cent by Owen of Illinois.

BARCLAY TOY

GROUF HEAOQUARTERS

TRI ANE 1015

PELIEFLE

'The efforts of the workers have been frustrated by the fact that the marketing estimates have been completely mistaken.

"They promised us a piece of the cake if they made a profit.

Well they've made a profit and we've got nothing.' Added Frank Goss: 'I can show you a suit and two weeks' holiday a year for 31 years.

'I don't intend to do that again. We have nothing to show for all our work-nothing. Yet these people are going to show more profit in seven months than the total 1,500 savings of people' british Lion, one of the country's remaining film production last companies. (See centre pages of yesterday's Workers Press for a history of Bentley and the British Lion dea!.) The takeover has provoked persistent rumours that Bentley intends to sell off the film com- pany's major asset, Shepperton studios, Middlesex, for property development. At a recent meeting at the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly, the trade unions with members at Shepperton passed a resolution demanding the nationalization of the film industry without com- pensation and under workers' control. • This is in line with TUC policy agreed at its last congress in Blackpool.

JUNE FUND

NOW £74.45

ALL OUR efforts must go into the campaign for our fund this month. We face the start of the summer holidays and all your support is needed.

Whilst the Tories do battle with the railwaymen, the gov- ernment is doing its best to trap Jones and the T&GWU into a compromise position. Workers Press is decisive today in preparing for these major struggles. Raise, therefore, extra support for your paper. Collect donations wherever you can. Go into action imme- diately. Post all your donations to: Workers Press June Appeal Fund, 186a Clapham High Street, London, SW4 7UG