Workers Press no. 8

workers press

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER

EDITORIAL

Meaning of the W. German elections IT WOULD be a great mis- таке OverlooK poltical signincance the vyest verman elec tions. taking now the break up which has given easte Bre Working a Fogriai ecturopean class The favourable conditions that Thinted States 02 ropel now econ the bankerstic an capitalish Withdraw Troops Dillon troops in vister beginning treat Protestant and Cathollc workers in the same brutal wat workers Aden and British colonial For sasions, Marxists there could no About ne the rope strived mon Thet those Stale. real position on the the bull n his levolutionals

@ PAGE 4 COL. 1 →

NG THE NEWSLETTER

PUBLISHED FROM TUESDAY TO SATURD

Pompidou of France has

STRIKE BREAKER

accepted an invitation to go to the Soviet Union some time in 1970. The ground is already being prepared by the five-day visit of Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann, who flies to Moscow on Thursday. Schumann will take the government come Germany. Wast chair of the so-called working class commission' 'great on begins Franco - Soviet co-opera- tion, but some of his time, single basic economic prob it is reported, will be spent in talks with Soviet Italy threatens daily top erubt into a movement on leaders. rrance Reports from Paris indi- while in Czechoslovakia 1900 cate that the main purpose the kremin is taced with the Immense nroblem or imnosing of the trip wilhe working ciass assure the Kremlin that de the most hated eastern kuro pean bureaucrats. Gaulle's policy of friend- ship Soviet Alliance with the bureaucracy being is not abandoned, despite the im- Imperialists and Stalinist bureaucrats rest on opposed provement of relations with systems. the US Pompidou's since their Cancellation rule, posed by deepening une economic ana polucar erisis This gesture by Pompidou The embassies and the lega.

towards

DOSSIOLY

Tons more can ever become accounts for the sudden can- The venues cellation or ine prolected visit aganst the international work Vietnam and November 1ng chase trom China to Czechoslovakia and Kalmanian nreslaent Ceausescu. Britain. It has been the Unlike the secret diplomac Rumanian of the Soviet bureaucracy tho bureaucracy the last campaign our policies corner the capi capitalist opene have nothing eal from the working class bureaucracy in was accelerated Lucas men of Czethoslovamla. Kremlin's Invasion

ALL TRADES

Te Stalinist regime in rese

UNIONS

sive demand £5 stalinist regime

ALLIANCE

earv post war mould. it has policy deveinner foreign

MEETINGS

to that allowance Yugoslavia. 'Support Ellesmere Port- Dependent Throw out scabs' charter' Workers' Press reporter Est policy

LUTON

MERSEYSIDE Lucas shop Friday, October 10, 8 p.m.

+ Union states makine stewards have asked work- The Cock making and ers in the area's four Lucas de- economically more Park souare factories - Victor Works, Trace WItH Girlings, Fazakerly calaist world. But at the same time it tries and CAV Fazakerly - for 'Unemployment and the relations maintain good their support in a campaign lessons of GEC-English with the Kremiin itself for £5-shift allowance. The Pompidou vicit Electric' Moscow and the cancellation The decision of Causescu's both to nont tor

LIVERPOOL

integral parts of Increased shitt allowanee wa!

Sunday, October 19 taken on funday anonet? when a committee of stewards 7.30 p.m. four works trom tha established to draft state- useum Lecture Ha facing wonters in hese factories.

illiam Brown Stre major and powers Ine Sneaker samantat bureaucracies.

• PAGE 4 COL. 1 →

Central committep Socialist Labour League sociat-democratic PAUL HIRZEL died on of construction the Hourth vears. calmiv un- ostentatiously our September 25, 1969. International militante ot tha comrade Paul Hirzel carried out mili- Youth Alliance for Sodiaica militants of the Federation tant work, political work More than 500 Trotsky- Committees of the Workers' withou militants from the Alliance, would be no as 1C+C Youth Alliance for Social- friends similation of Marxism. we was Comrade tion from Hirzel. workers Trotskvist 'Figaro' and workers from ince 1935, Militants of the Fourth he was one ot the Parician Book and few International! Militants of the the mutants WhO. the before Typographers section of the the Paul Hirzel dark war. Youth Alancel shunned affectation, pretence atte Hitler had taken nower CGT, attended his funeral extermin- his life. and hetare ¡nine all on hatsday Senis come 27.

October generation build, to take to built what ated the on Saturday, September answered Leon Trotsky's collapsed 1935 total Lambert paid on the the rierre involvement following nomaze the with the be to militant Trotskvist worker and ro Fourth International was the of mat- Hirzel the name were the Trotskyist Organization.

non-existent, Paul worked day 4 Militants of the Trotskyist Day after day, month after ane nicot so tatune news. the Organization • tor tne _Te- monte. vear airer vear. for DaDer. l review.

• SATURDAY • NUMBEREIGHT • WEDNESDA

By our foreign editor Robert Black

MY STORES

STOLS

Women canteen workers join Monday's picket line.

CAR PRODUCTION was halted at Morris Motors, Cowley, on Monday when 6,000 workers struck for the day against the company's threat to introduce short- time working on the new Maxi circuit.

Pickets were joined by women canteen staff, who B! David Maude struck in sympathy with the men. but most workers supported No food for the few hun- the stewards' call, issued after dred blacklegs who cross the a meeting on Friday after- line! noon, for the strike to go encouraged ahead. Stewards were of the strike. Maxi line steward Tom y the solidity MacNicholas told the Workers better even response than there was to the May 1 Press: I'm for all out strike the stoppage', commented action until one company meets our demands in full.

steward. "Their the Much has been made by treatment of Fleet Street of Maxi workers has been scan- the narrow majority for strike action at dalous. I don't think we've last Friday's mass meeting, had four full weeks since the beginning of the year. The company has now cut back its production pro- gramme by 300 cars a week and is hoping to put 1,500 men on four days or three nights. Each man would thus lose between f5 and £8 a week, if this is carried out. For the first time the com pany has refused to deal with the programme reduction creating a labour pool. Stewards see this as part of the management's campaign to the fierce weaken resis- tance of Morris workers to their plans for the introduc- tion of Measured-Day Work. British-Leyland, they say, must bend all its efforts to do this before the new £70 mil lion development opens up in months time. The Maxi dispute thus in- volves of the every section came out at any cost on time.

factory, insists a leaflet issued During the the war, T&GWU 5/55 branch by the period of illegality, when he yesterday morning, calling for was responsible for the tech- complete opposition to the

• PAGE 4 COL. 6 →

company's plans. The daily organ of the Central Committee of the

JAN S1 1370

/EDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1969

PRICE 6d. THE LONDON dustmen's strike is in danger because productivity deals are seen by their unions as the way to win the £20 basic wage.

This clashes with the big opposition such By Peter Read deals shown by the men Friday's Caxton Hall at negotiations. 3,000 other local uthorit workers were estimated to bi By Monday the strike involved. had spread to all but three boroughs, Ondon's

MORE LENIENT

and also Lewisham, Greenwich and Bromley. The danger to the strike is illustrated the About 5.500 dustmen and Mr Derek Gladwin, the secretary negotiating

VIETNAM

was reported savine inal the emplovers nad been complete y unconstruc tive He said he unions might have more Jemen line if the : employers had been • prepared to examine ways of men's cemands pro- Crouen such means as ductivity schemes. other union offi- are sell oreparing productivity concessions ware increases Indeed the complain of implement agreed in general terms. aedis national joint The council meets tomorrow in Edinburgh By a foreign correspondent • 680,000 for workers SOUTH VIETNAMESE President Thieu revealed the be on the agenda. instability of the Saigon monst regime in y speech to his 'parliament' on Monday.

UNOFFICIAL

long Whether or not the linin North Vietnamese forces il breee tha Col hacio doi at Edinburgh remains to remain in our territory, the but they United States and Allied forces should not be with- despite promises of early drawn from the territort of the Republic of South Vietnam', he said. delay and uncertainty Thic should be a warning that dust- Thieu knows that the main body force: OFFICIALS of the engineer- hands South ing, transport and electrical increase with ers and peasants. strings. concluded unions have No reliance at all can be is fear of deal Droducivity the placed trade unior lords and e Morriston (Swansea) fac- clique this fucracy to carry through corrupt bureaucrat: tory of Morganite Carbon unprotected the which goes well be- Trom wrat Ltd.. Themen mand beware o of the Vietnamese neonle a deal bein yond anything agreed in the their expense. being worked out o Routine Companys nter nante The deal is likely to have

• PAGE 4 COL. 7 →

After • See story page four remarks about eterminec to replace US fight Thieu underined his continued ing

UNITS

de- nendence harking statina witharonal American military and financial aid and the strengthening South Vietnamese armed forces'. desertion With rate pproaching 100,00 per he nonte a torora han tho Thieu Tast regime attempted the National Liberation Front leaders with y ens of in their coalition e thith a compatriots made 1970

LACE

Monday's speech returned this theme from a new angle: today that we

ORDER THE

discuss with the A number of people groups, and public opin- and In our Country

NOW

well abroad talking are about the problem of cease- Battlefield Full subscription On the the Two editions (Posted dally) fighting any two davs continnac raids E2003. for three OR TIC hace you select tho + Tay Ninh 53 miles north.

14 a vea west of Saigon, were reported months f1 for thres months in one night. I would like to subscribe to Workers' Press for There were 26 rocket and attacks Saigon master regime bases and installations throughout the South. reflects the Thie's speech Name problems and internal of the Saigon regime. t press home The NI.F must Address their attacks to full. be diverted by the traps laid for them in Paris. The international unceasingly Post to: Circulation Organizer, Workers' Press. 186a movement must Clapham High Street, London, SW4.

1 ot all Us To: 01.720.2000 troops from Vietnam.

workers press

PUBLISHED FROM TUESDAY TO SATURDAY

• NUMBER EIGHT • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1969

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER O

Down with secret diplomacy!

EDITORIAL

Meaning

POMPIDOU AND

of the W. German

THE KREMLIN IN

elections IT WOULD be a great mis West German

SECRET TALKS

to the ri sation long, years, For ical

STRIKE-BREAKER

Pompidou of France has since 1a sin accepted an invitation to go to the Soviet Union By our foreign editor some time in 1970. The ground is already being Robert Black prepared by the five-day visit of Foreign Minister Maurice flies Moscow on Schumann, who to Thursday. generations wiped This wea Schumann will take the chair so-called events in western commission' 'great rranco • soviel co-Opera tion, but some of his time, it is reported, will be spent taking in talks with top Soviet the broods ecale of France em May y up. leaders. while in Czechoslo agreement Reports from Paris indi- he Kremlin that de policyne Alliance bureaucracy is not being abandoned, despite the on oppose provement of relations with Cancellation The embaste and the loa. counts to the suden al thes The West erman dietio she sudder China to Czechoslovakia an of the counter balancin campaign nothing Working Cos ceal from Women canteen workers join Monday's picket line.

Lucas men 6,000 out over

ALL TRADES

demand £5

ALLIANCE

Maxi cut-back

MEETINGS

allowance 'Support Ellesmere Port- Dependent Withdraw Throw out scabs' charter' CAR PRODUCTION was halted at Morris Motors, Workers' Press reporter

LUTON

cowiey, on Monday when 0,000 workers struck for the day against the company's threat to introduce short- MERSEYSIDE Lucas Sno Friday, October 10, 8 p.m.

troops stewards nave aske work time working on the new Maxi circuit.

ne Coc Pickets ers in the area's tour lucas joined ark squar tactories • Victor Works By David Maude ballets Girlings, Lucas Fazakerly struck in sympathy with the from Ulster CAV Fazakerly •Unemployment and the and their tor espite allow cae campaign lessons of GEC-English red blacklegs whe cess the Electric' BRITISH troops tripse both ased sit alone

LIVERPOOL

Stee soo he staged. parts of Sunday, October 19 then the a to are beginning on Sunday, Protestant treat at present shiftine 7.30 p.m. Catholic mmented" workers in stoppage Milliam retire Hel sie Bret same Drulai way the morkers® Aden WOIKeIS alic factories Fleet Stalinist Spentrai Committee r orner briusn colonlal

• PAGE 4 COL. 1 →

Socialist Labour League a Friday's social-democratic new, Death of Paul Hirzel suchate used lo detent PAUL HIRZEL died on comrade defend September 25, 1969. Paul Hirzel private prone and function carried out wwithout More than 500 Trotsky- wild be nto ast militants from Couth Alliance for ism (A]S), a large delega we are accom panting workers IrON 1935, he was ricaro ana workers Irom une rarislan

BOOK

and 1vpograbbers section of th Colar attended his tunera This stat on hat Saday, Sepie cemet 27.

on Saturday, September the to orker; Paul mezel with any cost on time arch revorational by ore Taw 9/55 branch pas responsible tor the ech • Militanzat of hor „Tors ist rafter year, ter pposition

• PAGE 4 COL. 1 →

• PAGE 4 COL. 6 →

year, auy organ of the Contral Committee of the ULabour: League SoC

/EDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1969

PRICE 6d. 13AL 3 1 1370 THE LONDON dustmen's strike is in danger because productivity deals are seen by their unions as the way to win the £20 basic wage.

This clashes with the big opposition to such By Peter Read deals shown by the men at Friday's Caxton Hall negotiations. local authority athar workers were estimated to By Monday the strike involved. had spread to all but three of London's 32 boroughs,

MORE LENIENT

Lewisham, and also Greenwich and Bromley. The danger to e statemen is statements About 5,500 dustmen and of Mr Derel Gladwin joint secretary the

VIETNAM

saying that the beer 'completely unconstruc- He said the unions might have taken lenient line if the had beer way demand: such nicans as Dro ductivity schemes. In other words union off- cials preparing sell concessions wage increases Indeed the unions alread complain | councils' of implement agreed 'in general terms'.

The By a forelgn correspondent meets tomorrow in krinhural local authority workers will SOUTH VIETNAMESE President Thieu revealed the be on the agenda. instability of the Saigon on: regima in a anech to his 'parliament' on Monday.

UNOFFICIAL

'As long the unions aggressive Whether as North will Vietnamese forces press the at Edinhurgh remaine to he remain in our territory, the th to make the seem sean. but noW United States and Allied

MORGAN

forces should not be strike official before the meet with drawn from ing, despite promises of early the territory action. the Republic of South

COMBINE

Vietnam', he said. This chond he a wanna tae dict.

Hen nove that fe ma! are of the liberation liberation forces OFFICIALS of the engineer- into their own hands for are wage increase with ing, transport and electrical ers and peasants. strings. have concluded Inne productivity deal the No reliance at all can be is fear of the trade union placed in Morriston (Swansea) fac- bureaucracy to carry through ended from the wrat of Morganite Carhon this fight. of the Vietnamese peo wrath torv Ltd., which goes well be- The men must rely on their yond anything agreed in the own and beware One of in eleal beine. worked company's other plants. Routine The deal is likely to have

• PAGE 4 COL. 7 →

After routine remarks | See story page four about 'determined of US 1970°. de- backing, pendence that US withdrawal stating 'would denend on American the the strengthening Vietnamese armed Cath forces'. desertion rate With approaching 100.000 per vear.

the point is a forlorn hope.

Last week the Thieu regime attemnted hriha with offers all landere coalition if they cut off links with their and nade s North cleath breNk from communism.

Mondav's speech returned this theme from a new angle: or wich to confirm again todav that we are readi

ORDER THE

discuss with the other any including th roblem have hold serious discussions of people A numher Lon, both in and public opin- abroadr country

NOW

talking are about the problem of cease- fire." Battlefield Two editions the battlefield, the fighting (Posted daily) (For any two davs Three continues £10 a year raids the US OR

NLF

hace £2 10s. for three Tay Ninh 52 milac north. months Et for three monthe west of Saigon, were reported in one night. I would like to subscribe to Workers' Press for There Saigon montay and installations throughout the South. hion'e endonh nolanto tho Name panklame and intonal drol nesses of the Saigon regime.

The NLF must Address their attacks to the full. and not be diverted by the traps laid for them Paris. in international labour Tho Post to: Circulatlon Organizer Workers' Pres: movement must unceasingly Clapham High Street, London Swa (Tel: 01-720-2000) campaign for the ditional withdrawal of all troops from Vietnam.

PAGE TWO

IN THE FIRST part of this article, the present situation in Northern Ireland was traced to the Unionist (Tory) conspiracy, beginning in 1912, to prevent national independence by armed force and terrorism. Sir Edward Carson and the Northern Ireland capitalists, supported by the Tories, succeeded in preserving their own interests by partition- ing the six 'Ulster' counties from the South and North- West. Now, in 1969. the 'old' questions have come up in violent forms. History can- not be cheated. In the 20th century, the age of imperial- ism, only the working class and the socialist revolution solve the problems of can national independence, demo- cratic demands and the land in backward countries. In Northern Ireland, only a working class, socialist pro- gramme, with the working class organized for independent ac- tion behind a Marxist party, can finish the historic task of ending the rule of the Union- ists, capitalist representatives of imperialism. Reformists and middle-class tendencies cannot do it. In the Republic, the South, an aborted form of national independence, with various constitutional modifications since 1920, was established.

Since then the Irish native bourgeoisie has ruled the coun- try in defence of its own and foreign capital. The working class of the Irish Republic, leading the small farmers, from the capitalist breaking parties and moving into action in its own interests. Prime Minister Lynch and the government party make a few speeches about the North and the need for unity of the nation 'in the long run'!

But this trick, of seeming to represent Irish independence as a way of keeping the people's allegiance, will not work any longer. The more the struggle against the government in the South alongside the grows violent clashes in the North, working class the more the sees that its traditional 'nation- alist' representatives use their nationalism only as a cloak for their class interests. It is in the interests of the workers of Northern and Southern Ireland to unite against their own bosses, Unionist and 'nationalist', , and against British imperialism which they defend: that means to aim at a united workers' and small farmers' republic, a Socialist United Ireland.

For the capitalists, North and South, this is the great threat. They want the present con- nection with Britain, because they have no real economic in- dependence from British capi- tal and no strength of their own to keep down the working class. This is what has just been in the North. The proved Unionists' police and 'Special' forces in the North, even when backed by the thousands of armed Orange 'irregulars'.

and keep 'law could not order', and 7,000 British troops ' have been called in. The British Labour govern- ment used its troops to defend capitalist property and to de- fend the Conservative care- takers of British imperialism in Ulster. These Unionists are part of the ruling class and the Tory establishment in Britain.

By supporting them the Labour government was pro- viding strength to the British ruling class for its economic and political battles with the working class. All those who do not oppose the sending of troops are col- laborating in this imperialist war of intervention. This raises the other side of the story which is necessary for working out a programme and strategy for the Irish wor- king class: the connection be- tween the struggle in Ireland and the class struggle in Britain. We shall return to this point. In the first of these articles we showed how the crisis pros- facing the Protestant pects majority of Belfast workers (in shipbuilding and engineering) were like a time-bomb under- neath the present situation, in which the Catholic workers have been the first to move.

In the South, the situation • with in- is coming to a head exorable force. This year, des- The Unionists, led by Prime Chichester-Clark, Minister are part of the ruling class and Tory establishment in Britain. By sup- porting them with troops, the Labour also government pro- vides strength for the British ruling class in its economic and political battles with the work- ing class. Pite frantic government appeals wage-restraint, despite threats of legislation with the Criminal Justice Bill which could jail strikers, the main- electricians of the tenance Electricity Supply Board fought a bitter struggle through to the end and won an increase of 25 per cent ! Within a few weeks, follow- ing their example, building workers won an approximate increase of 20 per cent, phased over nine months. Other sec- tions are now moving into the fray. In the West, the Tynagh mining company, having got its hands on very rich silver and other deposits with the pros- pects of gigantic profits, has been crippled by a two-month strike. Already the men have re- fused a £4-a-week increase and the prospects grow of a long and bitter struggle. In conditions where workers in the West of Ireland have in recent months gained confi- dence from a temporary spring and summer improvement in employment, these strikes are bound to increase the militancy of other sections. Under the impact of this revival in the labour move- ment, and the recent General Election campaign, the govern- ment party withdrew its pro- posed anti-union legislation this year. It will certainly try to re-introduce it, and this will bring a political struggle against the legislation. In the last three years, the small farmers have mounted considerable campaigns against the government. After the partition of Ire- land, definitively settled in 1923, the division of the land, despite the indemnity condi- to it, success- tions attached fully took the heat out of the century-old agitation in the countryside. But the pressure of finance capital and the big banks has put an intolerable squeeze on small farmers. Like the the small traders of the town, driven out by the supermarket investors, they are made bank- rupt in their thousands every year. On top of these basic prob- lems in the class struggle sits the powerful Catholic church.

Its economic strength and its political influence in high places continue, but the ruling class is fearful of the daily growing rejection of religious authority by the proletarian youth. In the recent elections, the Labour Party of Irish Republic was compelled to put on a 'left' face, talking about 'socialism' being restored to their programme. Although their programme turned out not to be socialist at all, what they are doing is modifying their statements to comply with the pressure from the working class. Recent recruits to their par- party, like Conor lamentary Cruise O'Brien and other them in this liberals, help deception. What they hope is this: the nationalism, old helped Catholicism, will not be able the struggle much to contain longer; in these days of mod- ern capitalism, we should drop the old nationalist myths, and form a truly modern reformist, social-democratic party for the Irish workers. (See Conor in 'New Left Cruise O'Brien Review'. , 37 May-June, 1966.) In this way, they are very 'lefts' who formed like the People's Democracy in the North, with their perspective of a 'rationalized' capitalism in the North and an opening for reforms in the shape of civil rights. Now there is certainly plenty for reformists their to get into (if they had teeth any teeth) in the Republic of Eire.

The standard of living is, on official figures, less than 60.

per cent of that in Britain and 20 per cent lower than that of the North. Even if we consider only the town workers, who are better off than the small farmers and find agricultural workers, we average earnings about £3 10s.

per week lower than in Britain.

As for the countryside, be- cause of differences in State subsidies and pricing policies, added of course to the poor quality of land in the West, production per acre annually is £19 on grass and milk output, compared with £59 in 'the North. giving a few It is worth other examples, because one big question comes up among Northern Irish workers, which will more and more be asked in the South also: what price a united Ireland under Lynch and the 'Green Tories' of the South ? When the Protestant worker in the North asks that ques- tion, he is not referring at all only (or even primarily) to the future of religious freedom or discrimination, but to the basic living and welfare standards of the workers. The Catholic worker in the North asks the same question.

• both 'ask' But when they this question politically, and fight for an alternative, jointly with the workers of the South —on that day the prospect of a united socialist Ireland opens up. Unemployment benefit, like all welfare benefits, the is same in Northern Ireland as in Britain. In the South, an un- employed man with a wife and two children gets £7 18s. 6d.; in the North f9 4s. the South, old-age pen- sion is not due until 70, and is only two-thirds of the pension in Britain and the North.

The Irish capitalists face a working cl being mounted by the working class.

WORKERS' PRESS

The second of two articles by Cliff Slaughter 'There are no troops in the world who co the job that has been done by the British James Callaghan, Home Secretary at the conference in Brighton last week.

Health Service chequer of about £130 million The hardly exists at all in the South.

In annually. This is always pre- 1965 the maternity grant sented in government publicity was £4 (and of gift from contraception was as some sort Britain. banned). A widow with two children in South the gets It is of course a great deal €5 North 6s. week, in the smaller than the annual £10. amount extracted in profits by New houses built in the British and international capi- South 1965 reached tal each year, not to mention in the record figure of 8,146. The the advantages gained by Brit- ish capitalists from the flow North, with less than half the and still Irish emigrants suffering under population, with housing a 74 per disgraceful situation, cent unemployment built 9,516 houses in the same rate in Northern Ireland.

We saw in the first part of year. Northern Ireland's education with the this article that, budget last year was £51 mil- growing world coonomic crisis, the reform programme of 'civil South, double lion. The with £49 rights' could not solve in any the population, spent million. way the jobs and housing problem for the workers in the These social benefits in the North are supported by a sub- North, which must get worse the Protestant sidy from the British Ex- for workers as • a working class whose historical traditions of struggle link up with the in reason for blatant attacks like the Burntollet Bridg vorking class. That is the march by B-Special thugs (above).

who could have done British Army better'- y at the Labour Party well as the Catholic. What is the prospect for any such reform in the South ?

As already outlined, the Fianna Fail government is already preparing anti-union laws, let alone 'democratizing' and 'reforming'. Behind these measures are two factors.

In the first place, the lov investment in evel of capital southern Ireland, compared with any advanced country, cannot provide the basis for any advance in the economy.

The heritage of British im- perialism, involving genera- tions of literally wholesale destruction of people and of productive forces, ruled out any possibility of a capitalist solution. And yet the Irish capitalists face a working class whose • with the international offensive now rntollet Bridge ambush of a civil rights'

POBLACHT NA H

TAI PROTISIONAI GO

OR TIE

TO THE PEOPLE OF

IBISENEN AND IRISHWOLEN: Is the nasse of G from which she receives her old tradition of nationhoo her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.

Having organised and trained her manhood thre organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, di organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited fo itsell, she now seizes that moment, ana, supported by and by gallant allies in Surope, but relying in the fi strikes in full confidence of victory.

We declare the right of the people of Ireland to th the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereig usurpation of that right by a foreign people and gover right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the des every generation the Irish people have asserted their sovereignty: six times during the past three hundred arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in- of its welfaro, and of its exaltation among the nations The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby c Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees 1 rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation an the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the by an allen government, which have divided a minorit Until our arms have brought the opportune mon permanent National Government, representative of t) elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the l constituted, will administer the civil and military aff the people. We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the Whose blessing we inyake upon our arras, had we pr cause will dishodour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or r the Irish nation must, by its valour and disciplise and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove its to which it is called. SIAN Mee DIARNADA,

P. H. PEARSE.

Now in 1969 the old questions have com forms. History cannot be cheated. Only 1 socialist revolution can solve the problems and democratic demands. A step along this in 1916, when a provisional government wa Rising in Dublin. It issued the d historical traditions of struggle link up with the international offensive now being mounted by the working class. Secondly, the international strength of the working class, at the centre of a profound international crisis of capital- ism, compels the Irish, like all other capitalists, to seek to in- crease the rate of exploitation and cripple the trade unions, in order inter- to compete nationally in more competitive conditions-but this must be done in the teeth of a rising tide of working-class struggle!

In other words, we have the basic ingredients same revolutionary struggle, though with all sorts of historical fac- tors which aggravate the situa- still further, as we find in tion Britain, as reformism proves bankruptcy and its re- its actionary nature under the Labrur government! One reason why the nation- alist demagogy of the Southern capitalist politicians has been wearing thin in recent years is that they have begun to look for a way out of their economic problems by moving, first through closer relations (Free Trade Agreements, etc.) with and with Britain, the North into the European Common Market. In any case, of course, the Common Market represents a forlorn attempt by the Euro- pean capitalists to overcome between the contradictions the modern production and nation-state. If that contradiction be- comes stifling for the advanced countries, what a hopeless exists for the bour- situation geoisie of a backward country like Ireland. Since 1958, the Irish bour- geoisie has encouraged an in- flow of foreign investment, and until 1965, as part of the last stages of the world capitalist boom, this brought a reduction of unemployment and the wor- kers were able to increase real wages. For Ireland, however, this could not be enough. In every country, the ex-' pectations and strength of the working class built up during has intensified these years in capitalism's crisis, and Ireland that coincides with historical problems. More people left the land (even with agriculture doing moderately well) between 1958 and 1965 than the number of new jobs provided by the in- dustrial expansion. situation If this was the during boom, what are the workers and for prospects small farmers in a recession?

Already the downturn in the economy in 1965 had a great radicalizing effect on the wor- strengthened by kers, the boom, and the recent wave of strikes flows from that period.

Every section of capitalist opinion in the Irish Republic, including the government through official reports, is hit- ting out at the working class as "responsible' for the grow- ing crisis and advocating wage- freezing. This is the purpose of the proposed Criminal Jus- tice Bill. This wages question in Ire- land is political dynamite, just as it is throughout Europe.

bourgeoisie has no The Irish chance of 'getting into Europe' in time to rejuvenate itself, even if that were possible.

Since the 1967 Free Trade Agreement with Britain, Eire's balance of payments and trade have rapidly deteriorated. The October 8, 1969

T NA H EIREANN.

SIONAL GOTERNWENT

REPUBLIC

COPLE OF IRELAND.

EN: In the nasse of God and of the dead generations tradition of nationhoed, Ireland, through us, summone ned her manhood through her secret revolutionary lican Brotherhood, and through her open military inteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal ant, and, supported by her exiled children in America , but relying in the irst on her own strength, she people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to eştinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible.

The long reign people and government has not extinguished the ished except by the destruction of the irish people. In ple have asserted their right to national freedom and he past three hundred ycars thiy have assorted it in dental right and again asserting it in arms in the face in the Irish Republic as a Sovercign Independent State, ivas of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, ion among the nations. itled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every • Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal to all its citizens, and declares its resolve lo pursue f the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all ly, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered have divided a minority from the majority in the past.

ht the opportune moment for the establishment of a nt, representative of the whole people of Ireland and r men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby civil and military affairs of the Republie in trust for rish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, n our arias, had we pray that no one who serves that In this supreme hour rdice, inhumanity, or rapine.

our and discipline and by the readiness of its children ommon good, prove itself worthyof the august destiny Rigaod on Behalf of the Previatonal Generament,

THOMAS J. CLARKE,

AN Mae DIARMADA THOMAS MaCDONAGE,

EAKONN CEANNT,

JAMES CONNOLLY.

JOSEPH PLUNKETT.

stions have come up once again in violent cheated. Only the working class and the ve the problems of national independence \ step along this road was taken in Ireland I government was set up during the Easter . It issued the declaration above.

editorial of the Dublin news- paper 'Irish Independent' puts clearly the dilemma of the capitalists: 'Imports have exceeded ex- ports by more than £20 mi- lion in each month of this considerable year-a very worsening since 1968. It does not seem that a •trade deficit of the present size can be tolerated for very much longer. The deficit will be given added impetus by the income increases which are beginning to work their way through the economy. Consumer buying and imports will both be stimu- considerably. The lated econ- omy is not in a position to withstand this added pressure which looks like developing.' (Irish Independent', September 8, 1969) The fact is that 70 per cent ot the exports of tire are to the United Kingdom. Like the capitalists of Britain, those of Ireland Prow very well that into the Common Mar- entry ket is not Just to get some dream of 'economic integra- tion' and expansion, but to strengthen them against the working class. In the North, the future for the embattled Catholic wor- kers is in unity with the Protestant majority of workers against their employers, against the Unionist government, and imperialism which sustains them. The developing world crisis will create such problems for the Northern industries that this unity will be posed in the very near future. In Britain, the working class is faced with a struggle for socialist policies and revolu- tionary leadership, the Labour leaders having been exposed with the ending of the boom.

In their struggle against the Tories and their agents in the the British labour movement, workers will need unity with the workers of Ireland against the Unionists. They will thus need to fight for the ending of imperialist control in Ireland, in order to weaken their own enemy. These struggles will make the Irish workers in England, Scotland and Wales a strong force in the British working class. In the South of Ireland, the working class is being forced illusory to recognize the nature of the 'national in- dependence' maintained under bourgeois leadership. It is orought into battle against a government of capi- talists who openly turn to their bourgeois allies in West- minster and the City of London for common policies against the working class. That same government tolerates the Brit- ish presence in the North for the same reasons. Never was it more clear that the liberation of Ireland is only to be achieved by the working - class struggle for socialism. It is the international turn in that struggle, the great steps being taken by the European socialist revolution, which have opened up a new phase in the heroic history of the Irish workers and small farmers.

This time there will be no reliance on bourgeois national- ist leaders. This time the struggle in Ireland merges with the historic situation in which the workers of Britain must break from reformism, from imperialism and all it stands for. The workers ot Ireland, North and South, and of Britain are going to strıke a the United mighty blow for Socialist States of Europe !

October 8, 1969 NOW that the euphoria surrounding the 68th Labour Party confer- ence's closing session— the mawkish votes of thanks to all concerned, the singing of 'The Red Flag' and 'Auld Lang Syne' - has subsided, many delegates will no doubt be getting down to some sober questioning. In his summing-up, Wilson described the Party's present position as that of 'a family free to argue but fundamen- tally united'. But this is clearly nonsense. The conference finished up split down the middle over the government's pay laws, with 2,272,000 out of some 6,000,000 votes cast against the executive's 'Agenda for a Generation' (a policy state- ment intended to form the basis of the Party's manifesto for the next general election).

The bulk of these oppo- 'sition from votes cam e Britain's two major unions, the Amalgamated Union of Engin- eering and Foundryworkers and the Transport and General Workers. From the outset, however, it must be made clear that the centrist leaderships of neither of these unions wanted to vote this way. Deplorable

AEF

president Mr Hugh Scanlon said on Tuesday night he possibility they might have o do this was 'most deplor.

able'. By Thursday, he was looking towards what was to happen the next morning 'with some concern' Last Friday itself was a 'heads together' morning, as Transport and General Wor- kers' Union general secretary Mr Jack Jones conferred with Scanlon, then with Party sec- retary Mr Harry Nicholas, and with other trade union chiefs, in a last-ditch attempt to avert the crisis. Just before the vote, he Хіль Castle, Barbara Minister for Employment and Productivity.

went to the rostrum to ask for an executive statement that the document 'in its present form will not be issued until the national executive com- mittee have revised it'. The executive, however, was not playing politics. Big forces, rarely even so as mentioned at much Brighton, determined this split.

Reluctant Government spokesmen, on the one hand, were answering the demands of international capital expressed by the Inter- national Monetary. Fund, on • Ports the other, the union leaders were pressed reluctantly for- ward by the mounting oppo- sition in the working class to the attacks of the Labour leaders. Whatever the conference's decisions, of course, these attacks will continue. Beneath the electioneering surface of all the major gov- ernment policy statements at Hugh Scanlon, President Brighton lay a hard edge of determination for- press ward with the same policies.

Tust returned from the IMF talks in Washington, ' Chancel- lor of the Exchequer Mr Roy Jenkins told delegates last Wednesday that while progress had been made during the year this did not mean there was be going to any relaxation particularly in the squeeze on home consumption. What was needed, he said, was "positive determination to with policies continue the which have got us this far'.

His claim that there was the IMF nothing he said to that he would not be glad for the Labour conference to hear of should, course, be treated with considerably more scep- ticism than his assertion that, 'there is nothing I am going to say to this conference which I would not be glad for the IMF to hear' delegates Although cheered both statements in- discriminately, it was, as one disgusted official i union mented as he left the confer- ence hall that morning, 'like a banker addressing his share- holders. Unchallenged With the help of a solid block of right-wing unions and constituency parties, Wilson Brighton from comes away Labour and trade union 'lefts'.

with his major policies-wage restraint, the squeeze and Their 'unity' with the right entry into the Common Mar- wing at Brighton was built up ket-unchallenged. almost entirely around the already-tottering edifice of the Both left and right of the Trades Union Congress's 100- party jumped unhesitatingly do day-old agreement to the during last Monday's debate government's dirty work in the into Home Secretary Mr James unions and the hope that some Callaghan's pocket over Ulster equally rotten compromise -adding yet more power to might be reached over the in- his elbow in the use of troops.

comes policy. For their Wilson's part, Ministers themselves are com- At the Labour Party's 'dem- mitted to little if anything at onstration'- -really just a rally all. Sunday -on the before con- In Thursday's Common ference 'star' began, speaker Mr Victor Feather pledged Market debate, the draughts- men's dropped their that the undertaking would be union amendment calling on the gov- 'carried out 100 per cent'.

withdraw from ernment to TUC's work towards negotiations for entry and The allowed the T&GWU's motion improving productivity, more- which called for merely over, was expanding. 'adequate safeguards' - to go Feather seemed proud of his through unopposed. that many managers Mrs Castle's pledge to legis- were now getting their under-,

HOW FLEET STREET

'Superficially, Messrs. Jones and Scanlon seemed to be shaping up to be the sort of leftist union demagogues that the public love to hate.... It's clear enough that they are shaping up not only to become the Terrible Twins of the left but, more importantly, outstanding trade union leaders. (David Haworth, "The Observer', October 5.) 'On the two major controversies, the Common Market and incomes Wilson's authority policy, Mr survived intact ... to his delight, he has received the assurance from the most militant trade union leader, Hugh Scanlon, that the unions will fight for his re- election as their leader just the same.'

(Nora Beloff, "The Observer', October 5) of late for equal pay came, of standing these questions from the TUC! course. in the same speech as her commitment to re-activate Then on Thursday afternoon of Prices and Part Two the the lefts' lined up, without ex- and Incomes Act must be ception, AEF's behind the line with Wilson's taken in pledge of for the • Portsmouth support declaration that Labour government. towards equal progress pay will be firmly linked to the of the incomes recitemento Programme policy. Amended on a close vote by the Post Office Engineering Role Union, pledged its resolution all possible assistance in its It is in this context that we 'efforts to the bal- overcome of must look at the role of the ance deficit and payments anlon, President of AEF Tack Jones. General Secreta

WORKERS' PRES

By David Maude our Industrial Corresponden Seen with Ernie Roberts (left), assistantsecretar gamated Un and kers James Callaghan, Home : create a strong economy'.

Instead of fighting to mobi- lize their members against the whole range of the govern- ment's anti-working-class poli- cies, so as to finish with the Wilson leadership and fight the Tories on a socialist pro- the 'lefts' took every gramme, opportunity to make play of Party unity-emphasizing now most of the Party's poli- 80od and cies were what good economic 'progress' had been made. As 'left' MP Eric Heffer (Walton, Liverpool) said last Thursday night, when he and Sid Bidwell MP (Southall) got together at a public meeting with 'state capitalists' Paul Foot and John Palmer in yet another diversion to prevent delegates drawing the real les- 'when I hear the slogan means "Heath in, out!" its Powell in": No, Mr Heffer! The real groundwork for Powell, as you well know, has been done by the Wilson leadership itself- and the refusal of the 'left' re- General Secretary T&GWU

/ORKERS' PRESS

allaghan, Home Secretary formists like yourself to fight decisively against it. The 'state capitalists', simi- larly, have nothing but a kind of souped-up reformism to offer Labour Party members who want really to fight for a change. Having stayed inside the Party to the bitter end, during the entire right-wing witch- hunt and expulsion of the Young Socialists, they are now out of the Party without a word of principled explanation as to how they got there.

The real debate today, claimed their leaflet for the between those meeting, was 'who still see the Labour Party as a possible agent of social- ism ... and those who believe that the time has come for the working class to discard such a party and throw up its own organizations'. ' Revolutionaries, John Palmer told the meeting, were simply reformists who mean it !' Hostile Like the Labour 'lefts', , our middle-class 'state capitalists' live entirely on surface events -hostile to Marxism, unable and unwilling to understand or prepare organizationally and theoretically to meet the needs working class in its of the historic task. The work of the Socialist Labour League through the Young Socialists, the All Trades Unions Alliance and the Workers' Press, is directed towards that force which pushed forward last Friday's split—the great movement of the working class on an inter- national scale. That this split took place is further confirmation that the conditions are maturing for a real fight against the right wing. This will be taken forward, above all, through the fight for leadership in the trade unions —against the centrists. It is in this struggle that the Socialist Labour League will play a decisive role.

BBC-1

9.15 a.m.-12.25 p.m., For Schools and Colleges. 12.25-12.50, Apna Ili Ghar Samajhiye. 12.55-1.25, Ble Carechi Chi Fynd? 1.30, Watch Mother. with 1.45-1.53, News and Weather. 2.5-2.50, For Schools 3.45, and Colleges. Representing the Union. 4.20, Jackanory 4.55, Zokko! 5.15, 5.44, Babar. 5.50, National News and Weather. 6.00, London -Nationwide: news, features, opinions. 6.45, The Newcomers. 7.10, Tom and Jerry. 7.25, The Laugh Parade. 8.50, The main news and weather. 9.10, The Wednesday Play: 'Patterson O.K.'. 10.00, The Horse of the Year Show. 10.40, 24 Hours Including 11.15, The Conservative Party Conference. 11.40, Weatherman. All regions as BBC 1 except at the following times: THREE films from America this week, all made with that consumate professional con- fidence that characterizes the best of Hollywood, reflect an uncertainty, insoluble an sense of despair, a restless- ness and incompleteness. The first is 'Midnight Cow- boy, directed by an English- man, John Schlesinger, who made 'Billy Liar'. The first thing that is instantly ap- parent is the way in which he has responded to a different environment. The film crackles with im- pressions of America that flash out from the screen with strident commercial vul- a garity. The ear is assaulted by the incessant chatter of disc joc- keys, the banalities of tele- vision programmes, the eye of the hurdy gurdy of neon adverts, the concrete expanses of highways, the threat of the endless rolling traffic. Amongst this nightmare men and women move with a kind of bewildered yet defensive isolation, indifferent through fear of each other. Objectivity In this Schlesinger has objectivity found critical which has been lacking in his British films. The detail of casual meetings in buses, the overheard conversations, the random events of the streets build up a sharp mosaic of American life. The three stars of 'Easy Rider' (I. to r.) I and Jack Nicholson riding ac And into this enters Tex, brilliantly played by Jon Voight, a naive hustler from Texas who sets out to gigolo his way to fortune in New York. Tex casts himself in the frontier-image of the cowboy, to play out the myth of vir- ility and strength that carved out a continent, but the high boots and the stetson in met- ropolitan New York are the unsophisticated relic of the past, a joke to women, and only bait for the lonely guilt- ridden homosexuals who fur- tively walk the streets. Innocence Tex steers his ingenuous way through the network of neurotic and obsessive mid- dle-class culture, where un- derneath the brittle sophisti- cation lie loneliness and in- security, aggression and deso- lation. Midlands and East Angila: 6.0-6.45, Midlands Today, Look East, Weather and Nationwide.

11.42, News Summary, Weather for the Midlands and East Anglia. Northern England: 6.0-6.45 p.m., Look North, Weather, Nation- wide. 11.42, Northern News Headlines, Weather. Wales: 6.0-6.45 p.m., Wales To- day. Nationwide. 6.45-7.10, Heddiw. Scotland: 6.0-6.45 p.m., Reporting Scotland, Nationwide. 10.0- 10.15, Sportsreel. 11.55, Epi- logue, Scottish News Head- lines, Weather. Northern Ireland: 10.25-10.45 a.m., For Schools: Ulster in Focus.

6.0-6.45 p.m., Scene Around Six, Nationwide, Weather. 11.42, Northern Ireland News, Head- lines, Weather. South and West: 6.0-6.45 p.m., Points West, South Today, Spotlight South-West, Weather, Nationwide. 11.42, South and West News Headlines.

BBC-2

Coverage of key debates of Con- By Brian I 'Midnight Cowboy' is really journey innocence through the inferno of capi- decay, talism point there is, as it were, a failure of nerve by the direc- inability tor, an to see through the nightmare and he falls back on a mawkish sen- which an timentality is evasion of his theme. Banality What promised to be a sharp and stringently objec- tive film lapses into banality; almost with an audible sigh the issues are ducked and the Hollywood home ground of tear-jerking takes its place. IN CONTRAST to the numb- ing indifference of metropoli- isolation, 'Goodbye tan Columbus' is set amongst the claustrophobia of the wealthy self-made country club Jewish community. ider' (I. to r.) Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda cholson riding across America.

Here it is the shifting all- pervasiveness of custom and preoccupation family, the with food and status. The film is taken from the book by Philip Roth, a writer of great humour and percep- tion, whose combination pain and almost self-irony threatens to block his sense of indignation at the world.

His recent 'Portnoy's Com- plaint' is the best American novel since 'Catch 22'. The film is a rather poig- nant comedy of two young people who have affair an during a summer holiday. She comes from a rich, self-made Jewish background, and he from a poorer Jewish family, determined to break from its fetters, to make life as he wants it, free from the of custom, restrictions of what is expected of him, the good job and position.

PAGE THREE

servative and Unionlst Party to be announced. 11.00-11.20 a.m., Play School.

7.00 p.m., Expecting a Baby.

7.30, Newsroom, Weather. 8.00, Man Alive: "The Few'.

8.50, Know Your Onions. 9.10, Rowan and Martin. 10.00, Peter Sarstedt. 10.30, News Summary, Weather.

10.35, Line-Up. Wed Oct 8-Border Television 1.40-2.50 p.m., For Schools. 2.55, Conservative Party Assembly from Brighton. 4.00, Border News Headlines. 4.02, Houseparty. 4.15, Castle Haven. 4.40, Paulus-The Gnome. 4.55, The Sooty Wood Show. 5.20, Sexton Blake. 5.50, National News. 6.0, Border News and Lookaround. 6.35, Cross- roads. 7.0, University Challenge.

7.30, Coronation Street. 8.0, The Champions. 9.0, Special Branch.

10.0, News At Ten and Border Weather. 10.30, Sez Les. 11.0, W Summary Professional 11.45, Border News • and Weather. • Brian Moore She, exquisitely played by Ali Margraw, has all the ar- rogance, confidence, skittish- ness and petulance that wealth from the labour of others has privileged her with. She is the high point of the American capitalist dream, the illusion incarnate, yet she is bound by precisely the forces that have created her.

The film and the affair end abruptly, when the demands of family, guilt and depen- dency assert themselves over any affection she has for him.

He walks away, disillusioned, into the night. It is a slight, well observed and muted piece with plenty of accurate detail and a re- freshing and unsensational sensuality. Contradictory 'EASY RIDER' is by far the most interesting and contra- dictory of the three. It is a nakedly idealist piece with all the current illusions of drugs, the return to nature, so much favoured by the capitalist press, yet in spite of this the very seriousness with which the makers, Richard Hopper and Peter Fonda, have approached their subject, their dedica- tion to present a real objec- tive world, transcends their own ideological intent:- For a whole layer of Ameri- can society is revealed in all its contradictions. Gleaming technology stands side by side with impover- southern shanty towns, ished modish 'hip' dialogue clashes with small-town backward culture with all its suspicions, fears and hostilities; violence erupts at any moment, love hate, illu- transformed into sions into despair. Inhumanity What emerges is a sense of complexity, imminence of breakdown, the grotesque in- of imperialism humanity capable of solving its contra- dictions, where youth's energy and idealism are shrouded in a pathetic desperation. Hopper can see no way out; he is in recoil from the mono- lith where, as with his charac- ters, the end can come arbi- trarily out of the blue from the barrel of a shot gun.

All three films have in com- mon a middle-class confusion about, but intensely felt hos- tility towards, the contradic- tions and barbarism of bour- geois culture, but they see it entirely from an individualist standpoint which offers in itself no solution. Neither death, nor dropping out, nor walking away trans- forms the nightmare one iota.

Unless the situation is from the grasped point of view of dialectical material- ism, where the key to the future is in the revolutionary mobilization of the working class as a class, then indivi- dual despair can be the only conclusion. However deeply felt the protests are, they remain the impotent squeals of anguish of the middle class, which unless anchored to the revo- lutionary struggles of the working class must inevitably spin off into the clutches of reaction and barbarism.

INCOMES POLICY

PAGE FOUR

Withdraw TrOODS

•FROM PAGE ONE

as the opium of the pestilee.

It is true that not the noir Tha d is to of leaders. nonary cadre Tit cing e Concretely o mobilize cons cioussh every issue possiblment o inc tao mies store ao re the Once kiain Ulst Marxism day evelis. Lucas men demand f5 allowance

•FROM PAGE ONE

favour, This is the ctorgesher The demane ent ar victod Works mana Fazen mo was apu. Inadequate dán chọ t hc s we aet aup per y Lucas Be vis prit forward beead laboureds, men and women.

Mersey dockers may boycott containers LIVEKrOUL dockers are lo Service to the United States Lolay ag-conicul reached on the port wages acal. thish deci sitew ards on one Sunday aft latest pay offer. They are consblda ced boto s eas rare The threatened Sealand In- WDo. d refusin chemes without agree mains closed

WORKERS' PRESS

DUSTMEN FIGHT

RACKET

IF THE STINK from rotting refuse is beginning to get up the noses of people in high places, including some trade union leaders, then they are at least getting a hint of the conditions some workers are having to put up with every working hour.

By Bernard Franks They may also be getting an insight into just how important these so-called Airport non - esential ' workers

DUSTMENS

NO 107S

really are. esential'

BASIC

this

MEMASE

the used LoLaLe Authority

MORE RATES HY

the entuse wages

RATE

WUIKCIS

employeu local dumnoriues, une caton being cnal thev are

JORE

retreats secono-rate emplovees ssential Carrying 'off Workers' Press reporter tolap it THE DECISION made last week bv 10.000 ransport and General Workers' Union (T&GWU) members to hold 8Uvcaialitalls à ne țo v vocce Authority to delay the start of work by the ground Biry deal, Clept the enc- handling company, General Aviation Services.

The men fear Bytin wile necotatons at that toe mil leam to red unparaties company's operations egotiations in progress FLASHBACK TO FEBRUARY: Lambeth dustmen's fight to Meeting and des merkers, sewer- defend 'totting' was a fight against productivity.

Scottish ratoay to deat Effort directiylso varies o Mesured. Day boroughs have been extra cort C.W.S. breaks bee bowed induse eto0 wone awarded at presot 'S Its intervention to aid the different workers crous specaip system over estry thoughou ine and fourfod. fire rules car industry. Proposals

MORGANS

Also recomm-eded ton the Bv Mickle snay toe th pe she mes onguliy job-evaluation- Lena oratan el THE SCOTTISH Co-operative Wholesale Society was

• FROM PAGE ONE

belongs where "t fined the maximum penalty of f300 at Glasgow Sherriff M tactior seme scheme no al s did not ocupational groupinge Court on October 1 for contravening the fire protection the same becomin talked clause of the Factories Act.

time Prices thất 3p ind cof fonfa pimaics A factory inspector said that VIs une •remise. which in

SCWS

have been occuDied bv tne Conditionst - departmena, bur ile recom- August _4 he tound thai 1o nar ealin horites, one ot the hre exit coor would not open Scene door Samance, dop to tack adin eto tulllopera- * ot man- n of manuat wocker in the toal workers adequate factory nonsultant hasi been ak-gud working day, building was a seve! inspection remains Healte Death of Paul Hirzel пора и K tack with k-tudy ployed on the premisere em About 35(

• FROM PAGE ONE

incentive hemes; but on page 48 it nical side work, he of the Exit race ten contoal, shouid includ considered The watch and clock The e padi andr ductivity? s world nav firens, poster" emergency in case of fire. oab aur attacks o industry Italian strikes SCWS, PM Inspee Militants and youthl You chiuis an's, circulatei thuệht for. all mobilize poorest 5 100 per PoAll Workers er government's t cach fire workers exina this he problems, co re: shielded kid iron warsdows 1 Tright for a £20 minimum 22 people were burned alive.

and nepigene of it he lence of the himail •v Roben dac ratepayers well-paid THE ITALIAN strike International. Register wave has now roused the nove ora ale another struggle, the lasi and the severasi rec ommendations most oppressed sections 01 politiciansins Lave sold out time ster selt sor dea to, aredeath working tak Class avoided struggle. seles to empry Apty promises: Replace e materals and an albest The 100,000 Inna bilants voSuch a leadership is e roindoed of tac- made Rome's 'shanty points townl Al trades umoas a. nave organizea themselves Miracle nght against their appalling made rate economic housing conditions. Isleworth site sacks Many Rome's three Italian and pow impor Cucd Corces res 25 E.T.U. men TWENTY-FIVE electricians lers of 1000000 Hall at the Wat- slumalready While Rsleworta, Middesey, o site.

Workors' Press correspondent contreio y Ereticein he cense of Romoo hris on Monday t y ro ecpectins to be Coion onontl Bisected allered ladusurlal bion Chamber the misconduct, called on Mon seot support to dav sacking Deputies. oppose the sackings.

BAN

mand aer ail) sackim election its ahe disart sentence makes will se nerist atee dr vira on hee site Jokesman for the eler revolutionary tha tendermi of Sepad ty so tio ad ricians said e made , are • Eet dore en no ot abher unise! intend with this petition International. The electricians were still ready October 8, 1969 By Jack Gale THE National Coal Board's stubbornness over the rates paid to market men (skilled miners without a regular job) has led to repeated disputes in recent months.

The Cadeby Main col- liery strike is the latest of 71s., but this still leaves them these. over 14s. a shift below the NPLA rate. A new light is shed on For a these struggles when they year now the All Trades Unions are seen in connection with Alliance has been demanding

NPLA

the the third day-wage struc- all rate for skilled workers ture due to operate from prepared to go the face on and has been late October. warning of the dangers of the third day-wage There are already two day- structure. wage structures in the mining The Cadeby strike is not a industry: the National Power local issue. Loading Agreement

(NPLA)

All miners must unite be- for face workers and a day- hind the demand for 85s. 2d. wage structure for lower-paid minimum for skilled workers, workers. whatever job they are alloc- The third day-wage struc- ated to, and link this with affect 60,000 ture will some a campaign for decent pay for 65,000 to men not covered craftsmen and lower paid by the other two structures- workers. rippers, headers, repairers, A victory for the Cadeby workers, transporters supply for all miners men is vital and market men. throughout the country.

GRADES

Within the third day-wage itself there will structure be three grades of men. It is clear that the now Coal Board is reluctant to pay

NPLA

market the men rate (85s. 2d.) because it wants to keep them lower rate within the third day-wage structure. Thus, there is much more at stake at Cadeby than the jobs allocated to 130 market The regrading of market men into different categories at less than 85s. 2d. would be and national agreement could therefore cuts for men at present on or over that rate. Workers' Press reporter The failure of the National HIGHER education is not Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to escape the cuts at pre- leadership to fight for the NPLA rate for all skilled face sent under way at primary workers, plus a decent wage and secondary level. for day-wage door oy-wn for the Coal Board.

leaves the Meetings of the University Grants Committee and the Already, since the miser- Vice-Chancellors' Committee 7d. able award of to 2s. began last week with Mrs for and shift piece-workers Shirley Williams, Minister for last task-workers (agreed Higher Education, in attend- February) the national leader- has permitted ship virtual The Department of Educa- wage-freeze while to operate, Science tion and has had to the third day-wage structure revise upwards by 40 per cent negotiations have dragged estimates of university candi- out. for 1970-1975 made in dates the Robbins Report.

INTRODUCTION

The vice-chancellors are The introduction of this considering various produc- structure was first postponed tivity proposals such as allow- for six delayed ing the staff-student months, then ratio to for three months and finally worsen still further. delayed for again further It has dropped by 10 per month. cent in five years. The area leaderships have not led a real fight either.

Loans The Cortonwood strike 'Official quarters,' says 'The earlier this year raised some Times, said to men's pay from 49s. 10d. are be to

CON-

sidering whether students should live at home. lirzel They are also considering the introduction of •_ loan schemes instead of grants for students. Pegging grant levels would, it is thought, force students Greetings to seek loans. Universities are to be called upon use resources more efficiently, to adapt and adjust to our buildings and equipment. The vice-chancellors even considering six-term Press year to cram extra students in. This, combined with the falling staff-student ratio, can only herald English DAVE MARTIN, member of an 'Fouchet' (French Minister for Liverpool district committee, Education in 1968) plan Union with Amalgamated Foundrywor- consequent struggles involving gineering and both students and lecturers.

kers; Convenor

CAV

at Fazakerly (in a personal capacity) : All I have been very impressed its broad and deep coverage broad and deep coverage Trades Unions of industrial news in particu- lar. The Hackney dustmen's strike is a case in point.

We have needed a paper Alliance I wish it every suc- like this. and hope it goes from cess strength to strength. conference A young journalist writes : CONGRATULATIONS on the Workers' Press. We needed Motor workers' conference it, and you have provided it.

All car, car It is a tribute to the dedi- components and of everyone concerned, cation from the comrades who pro- delivery vide the copy, to those who workers deliver it to the workers, and, of course, to who have are invited made financial contributions. to a I know by the dedication motor workers' shown by League members in conference this area just how strong the belief in what you are striving Digbeth Civic Hall, for is, and how such dedica- and tion cannot fail to grow Digbeth lead the way for the working class. Birmingham who has long con- As one Saturday November 8 sidered himself socialist, although ignorant of Marxism 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. I have read and Trotskyism, 'The Newsletter'R over the Write for credentials to : months have been edu- and R. Parsons, cated the true meaning into 21 Strawberry Path, of the word. Blackbird Loys, For me you have begun the Oxford. of process a political educa- tion. You are now in an even Conference fee: 5s. a persom position do the stronger to same for millions of others.

Published Registered Workers newspaper. Once more, congratulations High Street, on a magnificent achievement Tondon CWA Plough Press Ltd. (TU). and the huge step taken in Clapham Street, London, the fight.