Workers Press no. 804

workers press

LET'S CALL THE

TORIES' BLUFF

EDWARD HEATH sum- moned a special summit of 20 ministers at No 10 Downing Street yesterday to discuss the economic crisis. Also at the meeting was Lord Victor Roths- child, head of Heath's "Think Tank'. As they were meeting the pound continued to slump on the London foreign exchange markets. Late yesterday it was being quoted at $2.48.80-120 down on Monday's points closing figure. Shares also fell six points, •Financial according to the Times' index. Today in the Commons there TUC's Victor Feather will be a full-scale debate on the decision to float the pound, thereby effecting a devaluation.

The Labour Party will divide the House, but so far have not put a censure motion. At yesterday's TUC General Council meeting it was decided to hold talks with the govern- ment some time next week.

Asked by reporters what of the could possibly come talks in view of Heath's attack claims, Feather on wage replied: *The Industrial Relations Act is getting in the way of a solution to our economic difficulties. "The effect of the Act is in- flationary and the implications should be considered. "The Chancellor didn't relish the floating of the pound and the threatened dock strike contributed to it. The Act's continued exist- in the way of the ence stood "productive' talks with the government he added. • The TUC will financially sup- port the Transport and General Workers' Union in resisting the House of Lords appeal by con- tainer transport companies.

• See p. 12. Container firm takes dockers.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • THURSDAY JUNE 29, 1

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SC

BY OUR POLITICAL CO

CAUGHT in the grip of insoluble economic an At the time the Tories same crisis, the Tory govern- call for lower wage settlements, ment is reduced to what when every one knows that they have been doing this for the past is more than nothing two years, while the trade unions barefaced bluff while they have been forced to press ahead with wage claims which, in the get ready for a General miners' and railwaymen's cases Election. were entirely successful.

make Heath as many The devaluation of sterling appeals as he likes, but with the is described as floating' when living going up and up. cost of everyone knows that the ex- the king class has no inte change rate for the pound is abandoning the slashed by 34 per cent. Even the most politically is only one holiday mak interested be wat can reas inform the government on all this speech- from empty this point. making and that is the ment is heading for a General Government such spokesmen Election in the future. near as Heath suggest that by float- working The strength of the they the best ing' sterling in a bad situation. The bankers reply by stressing currencies will that all the main be floating in a short period of time. In other words, nothing has been solved. Meanwhile, the enormous of credit which volume upon world trade is based is left sus- pended without in mid-air being able single currency to replace the dollar to sustain the movement of world trade. crashes Financial reminiscent of 1929 overshadow many of the banking and trade institutions intimately connected with credit transactions. The historical parallel for the action of the government is the autumn of 1931, when the newly- elected Tory-MacDonald coalition, Government, went the National gold standard and off the allowed the pound to float. This was followed by a growth in mass unemployment and years of starvation and poverty for millions of working-class families.

Heath appeals the right- trade union leaders for wing wage- help in formulating when even the freezing policy stupid Tory is aware that

MOST

passed the time has long since for such a measure to be success- ful, even if Feather were to agree.

SLL PUBLIC MEETING-SUNDAY

DEFEND THE DOCKERS' RIGHT TO WORK

DEFEND BASIC DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

DEFEND THE VIETNAMESE REVOLUTION

MAKE THE TORY GOVERNMENT RESIGN

SUNDAY JULY 2 7 p.m. Acton Town Hall Acton High Street, W.3. Speakers: G. HEALY (SLL national secretary) SARAH HANNIGAN (London YS secretary) CLIFF SLAUGHTER (SLL Central Committee)

CORIN REDGRAVE

LARRY CAVANAGH (Liverpool docks steward) 4р UNE 29, 1972 • No. 804

THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

CAL CORRESPONDENT

class has forced the Tories back to the wall. If it were not for the cowardice of the Labour and trade union leaders, backed up by the revisionists and Stalinists, be forced the Tories could to resign immediately. virtually in a We are living period of dual power . . . and here lies the great danger.

The Labour leaders have no- thing but the old bag of reformist to contest a General • linies aon. The "Tribune'-ite fake- utterly incapable of are aallenging Wilson. As the economic crisis de- teriorates and the Tories make for a General Election at a time of their own choosing, the labour movement is being led to dis- aster A Labour government which

ONLY TWO DAYS

JUNE FUND REAC

THERE'S £410.84 to raise in two days and you'll do it. The fight is on and your support is flow- ing in. Our readers at M. O. Valves, Hammersmith, collected 82 and a meeting of London readers collected £80.49. A grand total of £166.49 arrived yesterday from readers all over the country.

Let's keep pushing it up. We only have until Friday to raise our target. It is almost within our grasp.

replaces the Tories without a socialist policy would be thrown into a major crisis in a matter of days after taking office.

The campaign waged by the Socialist Labour League to force the Tory government to resign is inseparable from the campaign for a Labour government com- mitted to socialist policies.

In both cases the strength of the working class is decisive. If working class is strong the enough to force the Tories to resign, then it will be strong enough to force a Labour govern- carry out socialist ment to policies. What is vital to both opera- tions is revolutionary leadership.

The campaign which is about to enter its final stage to trans- form the SLL into a revolutionary party will be a more decisive factor in the next period.

AYS TO GO

We know you will make a last- minute effort and complete our Fund in time. We appeal lo everyone of you, make a collec- tion at work, raise amounts from other readers in your area - collect as much as you possibly can. Rush all these donations immediately to : Workers Press June Appeal Fund 186a Clapham High St London, SW4 7UG.

workers press

LET'S CALL THE

TORIES' BLUFF

EDWARD HEATH sum- moned a special summit of 20 ministers at No 10 Downing Street yesterday to discuss the economic crisis. Also at the meeting was Lord Victor Roths- child, head of Heath's. 'Think Tank'. were meeting the As they pound continued • to slump on the London foreign exchange markets. Late yesterday it was being quoted at $2.48.80—120 Monday's points down on closing figure. Shares also • fell six points, to the 'Financial according Times' index. Today in the Commons there TUC's Victor Feather will be a full-scale debate on the decision to float the pound, thereby effecting a devaluation.

The Labour Party will divide the House, but so far have not put a censure motion. At yesterday's TUC General Council meeting it was decided to hold talks with the govern- ment some time next week.

Asked by reporters what possibly come of the could talks in view of Heath's attack wage claims, Feather on replied: *The Industrial Relations Act is getting in the way of a to our economic solution difficulties. 'The effect of the Act is in- flationary and the implications should be considered. 'The Chancellor didn't relish the floating of the pound and dock strike the threatened contributed to it! The Act's continued exist- ence stood in the way of the 'productive' talks with the government he added. • The TUC will financially sup- port the Transport and General Workers' Union in resisting the House of Lords appeal by con- tainer transport companies.

• See p. 12. Container firm takes dockers.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • THURSDAY JUNE 29, 1

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SC

BY OUR POLITICAL CO

CAUGHT in the grip of economic insoluble an At the same time the Tories crisis, call for lower wage settlements, ment is reduced to what when every one knows that they have been doing this for the past is nothing more than two years, while the trade unions barefaced bluff while they have been forced to press ahead wage claims which, with in the get ready for a General miners' and railwaymen's cases clection. were entirely successful.

Heath can make as many The devaluation of sterling appeals as he likes, but with the is described as 'floating' when going up and up, cost of living everyone knows that the ex- the has no inte sing class the pound is change rate for abandoning the v slashed by 34 per cent. Even. the most politically iS only one interested holiday mar be wat can reas inform the government from all speech- this empty making and that is this point. the govern- ment is heading for General Government such spokesmen Election the future. in near as Heath suggest that by "float- The strength of the working ing' sterling they did the best in a bad situation. The bankers reply by stressing currencies will that all the main be floating in a short period of time. In other words, nothing has been solved. enormous Mine bil credit which volume of upon world trade is based is left sus- without pended mid-air in a being able single currency to replace the dollar to sustain the movement of world trade. Financial reminiscent crashes of 1929 overshadow many of the banking. and trade institutions intimately connected with credit transactions. The historical parallel for the government is the action of the of 1931, when the newly- autumn elected Tory-MacDonald coalition, the National Government, went gold and off the standard pound to allowed the float. This was followed by a growth in mass unemployment and years of and poverty for starvation millions of working-class families.

Heath appeals to the right- leaders for wing trade union formulating wage- help in the freezing policy when even most stupid Tory is aware that the has long since passed time for such a measure to be success- ful, even if Feather were to agree.

SLL PUBLIC MEETING—SUNDAY

DEFEND THE DOCKERS' RIGHT TO WORK

DEFEND BASIC DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

DEFEND THE VIETNAMESE REVOLUTION

MAKE THE TORY GOVERNMENT RESIGN

SUNDAY JULY 2 7 p.m. Acton Town Hall Acton High Street, W.3. Speakers: G. HEALY (SLL national secretary) SARAH HANNIGAN (London YS secretary) CLIFF SLAUGHTER (SLL Central Committee)

CORIN REDGRAVE

LARRY CAVANAGH (Liverpool docks steward) JNE 29, 1972• No. 804 • 4p

THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

CAL CORRESPONDENT

class has forced the Tories back to the wall. If it were not for the cowardice of the Labour and trade union leaders, backed up by the revisionists and Stalinists, the Tories could be forced to resign immediately. We are living virtually in a period of dual power ... and here lies the great danger.

The Labour leaders have no- thing but the old bag of reformist + hiries to contest a General uon. The "Tribune'-ite fake- incapable of utterly are wallenging Wilson. As the economic crisis de- teriorates and the Tories make for a General Election at a time of their own choosing, the labour movement is being led to dis- aster Labour government which

ONLY TWO DAYS

JUNE FUND REAC

THERE'S £410.84 to raise in two W days and you'll do it. The fight is on and your support is flow.

ing in. Our readers at M. O. Valves, Hammersmith, collected f2 and a meeting of London readers collected £80.49. A grand total of £166.49 arrived yesterday from readers all over the country. Let's keep pushing It up. We only have until Friday to raise our target. It Is almost within our grasp.

replaces the Tories without a socialist policy would be thrown into a major crisis in a matter of days after taking office.

The campaign waged by the •Socialist Labour League to force the Tory government to resign is inseparable from the campaign for a Labour government com- mitted to socialist policies.

In both cases the strength of the working class is decisive. If the working class strong enough to force the Tories to resign, then it will be strong enough to force a Labour govern- out socialist to carry ment policies. What is vital to both opera- tions is revolutionary leadership.

The campaign which is about to enter its final stage to trans- form the SLL into a revolutionary party will be a more decisive factor in the next period.

AYS TO GO

We know you will make a last- Ight minute effort and complete our Fund' In time. We appeal lo everyone of you, make a collec- tion at work, raise amounts from other readers in your area - collect as much as you possibly can. Rush all these donations Immediately 1o: Workers Press June Appeal Fund 186a Clapham High St London, SW4 7UG.

Pentagon Papers reveal more back-door manoeuvres Kosygin was Washington's PAGE 2 Workers Press, Thursday June 29, 1972

NEW

INSTALMENTS

of the 'Pentagon Papers', published yesterday by the New York Times' once more underline the Soviet leaders' complicity in the Americans' war in Vietnam. The "Times' major won a court case last year when the US government tried to stop its publication of the papers, a secret top-level review of the 1968. war up to acquired the four ol The recently of the four volumes which diplomatic intriguing continued between the Kremlin and Washington throughout the Johnson administration. Kongol These reveal latest extracts that from 1967 onwards Russia Wilson government was certainly became increasingly involved, being anxIous to reported intermediary between 'delighted' at the Soviet leader's act as Washington and Hanoi. new 'active role'. Kostie mall imbate undere important in their An turn attitude have taken stood import seems to 1967 he transmitting' during Kosygin's proposals was place says the Repart. '... he may also official London. The visit to

AROUND THE WORLD

FOUR

Irishmen, two British subjects and Americans, two lost their battle yesterday to avoid testifying before a Federal Grand Jury investigating smuggling of guns from Texas to Ulster. Prosecutions could arise from Grand Reports from the Soviet .

evidence to the given Jury and under extradition an a wave of arrests and trials a concluded between the treaty US and Britain a fortnight Pyotr Yakir was detained in ago two of the men could be deported with anti-Soviet activity.

to face trial. The dally paper that loads the right against the Torles. £20.28 for 12 months (312 laeues) {10.14 for 6 months (156 lasuas) £5.07 for 3 months (78 1s8u0a) If you want to lake Workers Press torice a week the rates are: {1.58 for 3 months (24 issues).

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Name Address have been quite willing to sub- ordinate DRV (North Vietnamese) interests to the Soviet desire to further escalation.' avoid While these revelations were the Us House of being made, Representatives refused to put any limits on the bombing of the North Vietnamese dykes. In the wake Hanoi's allegations that Nixon had been carrying out a systematic bomb- ing, the House defeated Abner Mikva's amendment prohibiting the use of funds for bombing them. Sweden's ambassador to Hanoi said yesterday that all industry in the city had been put out of action by days of concentrated US bombing. In a renewed offensive, North Vietnamese and tanks troops attacked lines north west of Hué yesterday morning. Heavy fight- . ing was also reported in the An Loc area. North Vietnamese troops have also built up pressure to the west of Hué, hitting government ggest that the Sta. trials ag ined in his Moscow apartment and is This week police have r Ukrainian intellectuals who, nationalism. These arrests are ( and long-term drive against dis Between May 14 and 19 at Odes Nina Strokatova, a micro-biologist a Ukrainian writer, were sentenced pectively in strict regime labour c tion and propaganda' Miss Strokatova is the wife of Ukrainian Mr Svyatoslay Karavansky, who has been in prison continuously since 1944.

He is due for release in 1979.

In March Mr Yury Shukhevych was arrested in connection with the Strokatova case. He was jailed in 1948 and released four year ago. Two weeks ago Mr Yury Mel- nik, an astro-physicist was sent- enced to three years in a strict labour camp for anti-Soviet agi- tation and propaganda. In Saratoy in the middle Volga, -steps have been taken against a score of people accused of un- authorized literary activity.

Six of them have been charged with reproducing and circulating certain by Alexander works Solzhenitsyn and other writers.

In Sverdlovsk Mr Anatoly Reshetnik, a lecturer in dialec- tical materialism, has been sent- enced to two years in an ordinary regime camp for criticizing the Party committee at his technical college and more important the methods used to teach Marxism.

Back in November seven people were sent to camps from Sverd- lovsk and another trial is immi- nent. Jewish engineer Mr Vladimir Markman is due to be tried for anti-Soviet activities and in Mos- cow leading biologist Mr Ilya Glezer also about to be brought into court. Observers say the clamp down is unprecedented in scale since the Stalin purges. Coming in the wake of work- ing class unrest at home and in East Europe, it is a certain indi- cation of the deepening crisis of the Stalinist bureaucracy.

manoeuvres positions with an estimated 2,000 rounds of mortar and rocket fire yesterday. Meanwhile in South Vietnam, President Thieu yesterday signed bill giving him emergency powers and declared that it was valid immediately. The Senate chairman had earlier refused to open a session to deal with the Bill. He said two prominent opponents the measures had been forcibly kept away by security guards, raising fears that their absence would tip the scales in a close vote.

One of the missing senators, Nguyen Vah Chuc, told reporters that the Bill's passage was 'in- valid' and said he would demand a fresh debate. Five thousand South Viet- namese paratroops and marines began an assault on North Viet- occupied Quang namese province yesterday and Saigon forces are reported to have opened a counter-offensive north of Hué across the My Chanh line. :. bureaucracy has launched ago Soviet historian and is expected to be charged have rounded up dozens of who, they say, are guilty of sts are only tip of a widespread inst dissidents. at Odessa on the Black Sea, Miss biologist and Mr Oleksa Riznykiv, entenced to four and five years res- labour camps for 'anti-Soviet agita- Pytor Yakte: Arrested THE FRENCH Communist Party has reached agreement with the Socialist Party on a joint pro- gramme for a Popular Front gov- ernment The Stalinist move is deliberate and treacherous a attempt to shackle the French working class to purely reformist perspectives. with Mitterrand's The deal Socialist Party has been achieved by a series of major CP conces- sions. They have renounced their demand that France should leave the Atlantic alliance and give up its independent nuclear deterrent.

Their nationalization pro- gramme has been brought into line with the Socialists and will not extend beyond banks and they finance houses. And accepted that the Common Mar- ket is 'here to stay', but should be turned from the 'Europe of big business' into a Europe of the workers. ARGENTINA'S army yester- day took control of Buenos Aires as the four-day-old wave of anti-government riot- ing in major cities reached the capital. Demonstrators seized cars to build barricades.

The student-led riots are in retaliation for the death last Saturday of a 20-year-old student hit on the head by a police tear- gas grenade. Troops have also seized con- trol of several other major cities in the interior. Barricades went up and petrol bombs were thrown in the city of La Plata, 35 miles from Buenos Aires and on Tuesday general strikes were staged in Tucuman and Cordoba. The current upheavals follow nearly a week of riots in the western city of Mendoza last April and must be seen in the context of growing discontent with the government's economic policies and rocketing prices.

The Mendoza riots were sparked when police attacked demonstrators protesting against steep electricity price rises.

In Cordoba violence flared when police broke up gatherings students supporting public service workers striking for more pay. President General Alejandro Lanusse has warned army leaders that the mounting social unrest may mean the postponement of his announced to hold plan general elections and return the country to civilian rule.

On Tuesday exiled ex-President Juan Peron was given the go- ahead by the Argentine supreme court to run in the elections as candidate. a presidential Peron leads the Justicialist Party.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the 1955 coup which brought the army to power and toppled Peron. Military commanders were saying they would not allow further anti-government demon- strations to take place. US United Mineworkers presi- dent W. A. (Tony) Boyle (70) bas been sentenced to five years' jail and fined $130,000 on Charges of • conspiracy and illegally diverting union funds to political campaigns. The sentence follows an FBI investigation after 20,000 miners in the Pennsylvania, West Vir- ginia and Ohio coalfields struck in protest against the killing of Joseph Yablonski. Yablonski rivalled Boyle for the leadership of the union and drew support from large num- bers of miners who despised the corrupt right-wing Boyle leader- ship and particularly its com- plicity with the large coal-owners.

Evidence suggests that Yablon- ski was murdered by killers hired by the UMW leadership.

He had charged Boyle with ballot-rigging and corrupt prac- tices. ITALY yesterday faced a 60-hour strike by airline pilots in a bid to force a resumption of talks on a new collective work contract.

The strike began just as a three day newspaper strike ended.

EAST and West Germany yester- day began the third round of talks for general treaty to 'normalize' bilateral relations.

COWDENBEATH TUESDAY

COWDENBEATH is one of the two big working - class centres in Fife and predictably we have had selfless support from the local people. First mention to the strikers at GEC Elliott's plant in the town. They have in dispute for four been weeks, but immediately they they heard of the march, us their enthusiastic gave backing and invited the marchers to share their morning tea with them to- morrow. A delegation from the action committee that the runs strike came out in the rain to welcome the weary march- ers into town. In the morning over 50 Elliott strikers marched with us out of Cowdenbeath and gave the youth tea and bis- cuits to send them on their way. The Elliott strike is part of the engineers' pay claim and it is viewed by both union and management in the area as a in Fife. The GEC- test case AEI combine has sent some of its top so-called trouble- to Cowdenbeath shooters up and they have been publicly gloating before the strikers of the kind of settlement that the electronics monopoly has won in Manchester. Most workers I talked to at their strike headquarters in the local miners' welfare hall, con- the union demned the way leadership abandoned the national claim. This, after all, is still a big mining area and the whole of the working class was inspired with the way the recent pit strike was fought.

To many Elliott men it seems why Hugh inexplicable Scan- and his could lon executive not have fought out the battle at national level while the miners were also out in dis- pute. One of them Peter Duff, told me that unemployment, particularly among youth, was very severe in the area. It's very bad at present for school-leavers. They are finding it near impossible to get places. None of the firms recruiting. One example are an illustration stands as recently it worked out that as many as 50 there are unemployed youth on the dole for even low-grade jobs like labouring,' he said. As we move through Fife an industrial pattern begins to emerge. It begins with the pit closures which massive began 15 years ago. Take Cowdenbeath. The area around the town supported as many mines-all these dozen as a have been closed. The new- comers are firms like

AEI,

Elliotts and other light indus- trial concerns. But now even these com- panies are beginning to cut back. The Marconi-Elliott factory in Cowdenbeath, for example, throwing is about to close 100 on the dole, and at Glen- rothes, another Elliott factory was never opened after a last- minute decision to produce in Spain. Apart from this the new firms are primarily interested Says Peter: in female labour. 'In my day it used to be young boys who were used as cheap labour — now its the women and girls whose husbands are perhaps on the dole.'

YOUNG SULALISTS

SCOTTISH MEGION

SETTISH HEGIDN

RIGHT TO WORK MARCK

DUNDEE TO GLASGOW

Year ore the Comed to endeath by Ame me Peter Dat following five natlonal marches earller thie outh on the first of the Striking engineers welcome marchers This is the in excellent and pattern all over we are staying to Cors come to the me unionists East Fife. not half There accommodation at the Cow- meetings enough lob denbeath miners welfare o•portuniles

IOI

replace the massive large hall men to e that his from Renfrew told bleeding of caused and the several smaller that by the pit-closure rooms plus kitchen. We passed

LILCICOL

hale Started with Toe Seanield Dit one of the biggest —sleda lne lins are cashing Young Socialists, not directly in on the big reserve pool of Cowdertead Scotland i on the to way because of but propaganda, fémale labour. promised d the miners because he there financial Was This difficult makes The national support. organize march; the YS Scarborough final and the determina- unes ocales. word about Toe conference mell, Labour county coun- Police prores one anal vor one novenent cillor for Fife Pat found out. national It is this kind of political Right-to-Work have pcsonal . conalion marches and marched with us significant increase to fight conunulty by aesire out of Glenrothes. marchers in the political work -based on the principle of He has been on politic that the dole and carried out in the towns revolutionary blacklisted for 13 of the the monts zualanice success This is not only reflected in marches and the growth of the ne town HeWvorked for an Americar collections and sales, movement. Because it is these Sandusky that firm called but the which have been excellent, but attributes alSo way youtu Orency working-class youll other when he tried to organize a campaigned for young who want to fight.

YOUNG SOCIALISTS

SCD ITISH REGION

NGHT TO WORK MARCY

UNDEE TO GLASGOW

On the road from alemothes to Cowdenbeath 10W3 then all local union. Since have given him the employers cold shoulder. "Inese are the problems inal go with high male unemploy- told ment, he me marched in the rain. 'The male rate is about 8 per cent and the o a decent have little chance

VCIV

1o•. in tiese conciuons orcar• izing a good trade union base 12 thi difficult.' *m the ors i lert of the Lat himself described 'very our Party: 'I believe I should

PAPERBACKS CENTRE

work in the party to commit policies. These socialist kind marches OT are Dar time I would this fight. Next a huge march like to see say 28 Charlotte St Edin- Cowdenbeath to 1rOm burgh-bring coaches of youth from Scotland and London W1 up the highway. block was the long- Todav's march gest far in SO mates steady downpour. But tonight

BOOKS • PERIODICALS • NEWSPAPERS

• Press, Thursday June 29, 1972 PAGE 3

BY AN INDUSTRIAL

CORRESPONDENT

THE 2,000 Jaguar workers on strike in Coventry for a sub- stantial rise in piecework earnings came out because the company refused to con- sider making an offer unless it was tied to its new day- work pay structure. This is basically a Measured- Day Work scheme which the management intends to introduce into the factory. At present these pieceworkers who make the luxury Jaguars that their cruise employers around in are paid between £1.05 and £1.10 an hour. In a statement to the press, Richards, National Union Mick Builders' of Vehicle convenor, said: 'We hope that this will not be a long strike. We have a very good record of industrial rela- tions, but we have no alterna- Mr Richards claimed that other sections in the factory had received wage settlements of f4 to £4.50 a week, but nothing was gıven to the main bulk of the pieceworkers. Full out • Workers One picket told Press: 'We are working full out at this very moment on piece- work for these earnings. This has been brewing for a long time.

Heaven knows what it would be like inside there if they got Measured-Day Work in: ever Most of the strikers are mem- bers of the Transport and Gen- eral Workers' Union and the

NUVB.

A move to begin to halt acceptance of MDW schemes by convenors and shop stewards was undertaken at a recent meeting of the AUEW Coventry district committee when the following resolution was passed: "The district committee instructs all convenors and shop stewards not to negotiate produc- tivity deals and/or agreements under any circumstances, and to towards oppose any moves Measured-Day Work with all possible vigour, in accordance with the national policy of our union' Since Jaguar cars is part of complex the British-Leyland which is busily trying to force agreement structure tories, this decision by the dis- trict committee can have reper- cussions on the course of the Jaguar strike.

NOW OPEN

Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Fri 9 a.m.-7.30 p.m. Sat 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

THE PAY FIGHT IN THE

LUCAS COMBINE

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Thursday June : the CAV Acton engineer- ing factory in West London may try to avoid a fight on their unions' national pay claim. But if they do, militants say, they will only force a flood of sectional pay struggles on the part of workers hit by rising prices, rents and fares. Stewards from all over Lon- don will meet at Central Halls, Westminster, during working hours next Monday to discuss next steps in prosecuting the national claim in the area.

One man who is unlikely to be there is John Paxman, right- wing engineers' union convenor at CAV Acton and a leading exponent of going it alone.

Go it alone in some areas of industry might be taken as an expression of red-necked indi- vidualism. But not at CAV Acton. There it is the exact opposite to the class-conscious ruthlessness of the company itself. Part of the giant Joseph Lucas combine based in Bir- mingham, CAV Acton is a low- volume, multi-product factory specializing in components for motor spares, diesel and elec- trical equipment and pumps, starters and alternators for the commercial vehicle industry.

Under the lash of sharpen- ing international competition, Lucas has of late stepped up its drive to push up produc- tivity. The approach of Bri- day June 29, 1972 tish entry into the Common Market has also led to heavy investment in Spain and Italy.

In February, the • company announced that it was to acquire a £3m stake in the Carello car lighting, filter and wiper-blade company of Turin.

The declared aim of the deal-giving Lucas a 40 per Italians' cent stake of the equity with an option on a further 20 per cent over the next five years—to build up the dominant lamp organization in Europe. It will also increase Lucas ability to shift production out of Britain in case of industrial trouble and ship in compon- ents to its customers from its European associates. (It already has a link-up with Ducellier of France.) Alongside these moves have gone changes in the British organization itself. Until recently, CAV Acton had 75 per cent of the world market for diesel pumps, injectors and other compon- ents. But now much of this pro- duction has been moved to sister factories in Kent, Suffolk and Merseyside. The Acton plant retains only a husk.

The newer factories were located in areas of relatively high unemployment where could be kept wage rates lower than in the highly- organized London engineering belt. This leaves Acton's switch- gear division just about ticking over, its world-service spares section viable but with a greatly reduced backlog of orders and the production of starter motors and alternators with an uncertain future.

It is feared by some workers at Acton that a new factory Kent will at Gillingham in take some of their electrical work. This, then, is the background to the claim stewards have submitted at CAV Acton in line with the policy of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions. For two years running, the stewards have concluded site deals which gave the company a 12-month wage freeze. The last one, which runs out today, worked out at £2 a week less than that won by Lucas work- ers in Birmingham. This time the claim is for a £6-a-week general increase, a five-hour cut in the working week, extra holidays plus pro- towards equal pay for gress women workers. In reply, management has now offered £3 to skilled work- ers on fixed levels of earnings plus £2 to everyone else in return for a further 12-month freeze. £2 would be taken off what is known as the lieu rate (con- sisting of extras on top of the time rate) and placed on the time rate itself. Only over- time workers would benefit from this, however. Guaranteed fall-back pay would consist of the new time rate plus 50p, and would be a period of two payable over weeks in the case of 'national storpages', , which the company has not yet defined. On holidays, the company has offered one day this year paid at average earnings and an additional day next year.

• The company has offered nothing in reply to the claim claiming for a 35-hour week, that this is a subject for national negotiations, or on progress towards equal pay.

(Women workers at CAV already get 90 per cent of the male rate). A previous offer was £3 over 18 months (£1.50 payable on July 3, 75 p in January 1973 and a further 75p next July), plus one extra day's holiday.

Again nothing was forthcom- ing on hours or equal pay.

Many left-wing stewards are convinced that the differ- ence between these two offers would have been enough to swing an acceptance recom- mendation from some of their leaders. But when the new proposals were reported to the joint shop stewards' committee on Tues- day they were already aware that Lucas workers in Bir- mingham had been offered workers from CAV 1970 clalm: Acton in July, 1970 decided for strike action if their pay demands were not met. £4.25 for skilled workers, £3.75 for semi-skilled and £3.25 for unskilled This second contrast brought unanimous rejection of the offer by the committee and an instruction to Paxman and his fellow-convenor John Coughlan, of the General and Municipal Workers' Union, to fight for the full claim.

Two weeks' notice of indus- trial action was given. increasing number of An stewards believe that this struggle can only be won on a combine-wide basis led by a functioning combine stewards' committee. But Paxman and Coughlan, have temporarily blocked moves in this direction. Meanwhile they and the shop stewards' executive are now firmly on the hook as far as the wage claim itself is concerned. A strike would explode all the existing friendly relations with management into which stewards are sucked many through the network of Joint Production Consultative Com- mittees which operate on the site. If a strike does not take place, the more militant sec- tions are certain to take action individually. As one worker commented: 'We can't accept any more cut-price wage deals!'

AUSTRALIAN LETTER

The date May 31 is a day every Australian for worker to remember, for nothing is going to be the same since its passing. It was on this date that the Minister of Industry and Phillip Service, National Lynch, has his amendments to the Conciliation and Arbitra- tion Act passed through par- liament. It was also the day that the government intervened in a new agreement between water- side workers and employers which gave the worker a 35- hour week. The government has now said 'no' to the 35 hours and at the moment is waiting for go before an their claim to industrial court. This is an unprecedented move and a crystal clear sign the that those engaged in desperate drive for profit are not going to let a little thing agreement between like an one section of the bourgeoisie and the working class step in their way. The move is also a vindica- tion of the warning to.. whar- fies by the Australian Socialist Labour League that the days of negotiating 'deals' with the employers are over. The Conciliation and Arbi- tration Act is a way of con- trolling workers through a series of industrial courts and judges. I These can call com- pulsory conferences and re- turns to work during disputes, and ratify agreements between unions and industries. It is in the latter sphere that the Liberal Party/Country Party coalition intervened, using a new amendment which stipulates that the government can intervene in the 'national' interest. Although the 35-hour week has been granted to other Australian workers in the past, conditions have vastly now changed for world capitalism.

This is a fact which is ignored by the reformist and Stalinist leaders the on Australian waterfront. General Secretary of the Waterside Workers' Federation, Charlie Fitzgibbon, expressed surprise at the government's move, be- other unions have cause obtained the concession in the past. Fitzgibbon, a Labour Party member, has been one of the vitriolic critics of the Socialist Labour League for their call to wharfies to reject the recent package deal because of a no- strike clause contained it it.

He and the Stalinists on the claimed that the waterfront bad things in the contract were outweighed by the good, like the 35-hour week. A full bench of the Arbitra- tion Commission is to meet to consider the 35-hour week aspect of the waterside agree- ment. And although it is still not certain that the govern- ment will suceed in stopping the claim, if the wharfies do get it the government will do all in its power to quarantine the agreement on the water- or front. government The move shows that one section of the ruling class is not going to be allowed to break ranks at this stage and weaken the whole fighting formation that is being developed. Its action was foreshadowed by Lynch in his second read- ing speech on the amendments in the House of Representa- tives when he said that the government cannot merely be an interested 'bystander' agreements and disputes. 'Employers and unions simply cannot be permitted to resolve their differences with- out regard to the effect on those groups who are not themselves directly involved, he said. Lynch went on to say that inter- although government vention' would be unwelcome, it would be necessary. He claimed that such action will be taken for 'community' and 'national' interests.

This, of course, is going to fool no worker. When the government intervenes on the industrial scene it does so for capital, not for labour. against the The move wharfies agreement should not be interpreted as the govern- ment falling out with those it Both they and represents. waterside employers are fight- ing on the same side. The disagreement between them is one of tactics-of when and how to take on the working class. Wharfies are in the fore- front of working-class fighters.

The AEWI was prepared to take them on, but not just yet.

right wing Now the strong which is developing in the government has decided that this is the time. The 35-hour week issue is political dynamite. Both government and large sections of the employers have drawn a line. The line is the 35-hour week, and they are determined that no more workers are going to cross it.

workers, Metal storemen packers, power workers, and and all others who have de- clared their intentions of fight- ing for a 35-hour week are now at the head of the battle.

Their demand is a crucial one at this period of growing falling unemployment and profit. It is a positive demand for a sharing of work when there is less work available.

It is a demand that calls for a share in the savings made through increased productivity, as on the wharves. But for employers to agree to work-sharing and benefit- sharing would mean that the benefits they have gained from their created high un- employment would be lost. This is obviously not what they want. Every worker in Australia Top: Bob Hawke Liberal conta industria Industrial Charlie Fitzgibbon-wharfles' soc must now take up the demand for a 35-hour week-but with workers who believed watertront was the thin enc of the wedge for workers in other industries are now being determined government which is not only to prevent a flow-on but is also hell bent on taking The 35-hour week was the bait on the hook in the water- take away the bait and leave only Strike action taken A 35-hour week is official policy for the Council of Trade Unions. But watch workers must their so-called leaders. For whatever they mouth, they will not take up this fight to the full. Within the last few days the 35-hour demand has week the oil spread to industry, and building, the power strike workers, with action being taken to back up the demand. Bob Hawke,

ACTU

tary, has shown that whether the 35-hour week is official Phillip secretary. Above: wharfior policy or not, mean that those r fight for it are goi ACTU support. Hawke said he 35-hour week in dustries, among named the waterf power industry no question hour week campa The 'left' growing period of a lion-t bosses. Last week the end to a nai of railwaymen, back to work strating a grim improve their to living. There 1S 1 think he will pl other than the the fight for a 35. Under the 35-hour week revolutionary of The existing leade Australian not head-on employers on ever For the maintain, let alon living standards, i have leadership with lutionary those who stand present are fighting for coming period. ouncil of Trade Unions Lynch. Centre: not, it does not t are going to receive said he supports in- cinderaba which he among e waterfront and the *But there 35- he said. k campaign, ft' Hawke is rapidly into his role in this for tha a lion-tamer weeK ne to a national strike sending them when at a time and file were demon- grim determination their standard of here no reaso will play anything for a 35-hour week. same role in existing conditions ur week is a demanc proportions. ing leadership of the working class leader- will back down from with the collision working class let alone expand its ndards, it is going to its replace with one of revo- For o stand at the head incapable я те workers in

), 1872 PAGE 8

3, Thuraday Jam A new campaign against alcoholism has been launched by the Com- munist Party of the Soviet Union in a decree printed in all the major newspapers. All party organizations are solemnly called upon "to wage a decisive and steadfast struggle against drunkenness and alcoholism and to ela- borate specific measures for launching widespread mass political and cultural educative work in collectives and among the population at their places of residence, for intensitying anti-alcohol propaganda and for raising the effectiveness of public and administrative fluence Heavy drinking, besides be- ing a legacy of Russia's back- ward peasant past, is a refuge from the problems of every- day life exacerbated by the rule of the bureaucracy. Des- pite the doubling of the price of vodka, the Russian tipplers' traditional favourite, the out- lets for its sale have multiplied and a good deal of home dis- tilling goes on. The leadership itsell is scarcely known for its tem- perate habits and liquor flows freely at Kremlin festivities, as foreign guests testify. But increasing concern is being ex- pressed about the effects of alcoholism on production as well as on the statistics of crime, road accidents and divorce. A typical complaint is one that on a train going to place called Tseliograd the buf- fet car had unlimited supplies of wine and vodka but no food. A woman passenger des- cribed a nightmare journey interrupted by drunken brawls and swearing. The police were called in to try to restore order at stations along the route. At one factory in the Urals, 30 per cent of the workers are taken to the police sobering- up station at least once a year.

In general any occasion, be it happy or sad, is the excuse for downing a few vodkas and con- vivial scenes often ending in brawls and 'hooliganism'.

Another problem is that establishments selling alcohol have to meet their plan tar- gets and how can they do that if the sale of spirits is made more difficult? A favourite remedy is to punish the drunk. Suggestions are being made that workers dismissed for alcoholism should be more severely treated and that drunks should have to pay for hospital treatment, if necessary by taking the cost out of their wage packet.

Unable to remove the causes of drunkenness which, like the survival of religion, lie in the contradictions of Soviet society, the bureaucracy tries to deal with the symptoms.

The latest decrees call for a vigorous propaganda more campaign and more entertain- ment and sports facilities.

Workers Preas, Thursday

GAS, POISON, NAPALM

MAN-MADE FLOODS

BOMBS, BULLETS,

AND NOW-

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Thursday June 29, 1972 soone tim perpetuated at the Riter dereas ed. thas ma fad metre, was North" Vietnam's 600 people per square kilo- political and cul- Almost any aircraft can carry out 'seeding' operations or flares and the device is undetectable.

the potential for causing large- Weather modification with iodide bombs tural centre. economic, to French French sources claim that tabhis deliberate disruption, of professor cores Lacoste. The United States is adopting a policy of near the National piled out the last 0 Ameri Liberation Front to ne- amount to a surrender in what

BY IAN YEATS

Indo-China. and gotiate scale and quite possibly un- controllable and unpredictable profes- writes 'Science' sub- area where soil and crops are the Changing the pattern of the to bombs and chemical weapons of environ- UN destruction indiscrimi- nate bombing, by large scale lifeblood of the community.

Olaf Palme addition sistence level agricultural Sweden told the recent Vietnam is a largely sor Matthew Meselon could wipe them out. destruction', Harvard the ment at Stockholm: brought about by American immense on Professor conference the journal. weather «The in the water table and weakening of the dykes comes on the eve of the flood season due to But the Nixon administra- tion is loathe to leave anything Last week 'The Guardian's' science correspondent Anthony Tucker disclosed that circum- stantial evidence was mount- normal flood situation to the proportions of a cataclismic The heavy cloud season is suggesting that the US command has begun 'seeding' clouds to induce extra severe Abnormal rains in the Red River area could aggravate the start in the next few weeks.

to chance. disaster. rainfall. ing can troops from close to the June 26, seven fighter-bomber squadrons and beginning June 10, US troop strength the 4,000 US troops were pulled out of Da Nang airbase and was cut by 6,110 and a fur- 5,000 will be shipped home on July 1 to bring the total of American troops in presence of more American warships in Vietnamese waters any previous time, manned by 42,000 US naval personnel and maintaining a Vietnam down to 49,000. facts conceal constant shore barrage. airlifted to Thailand. week Hué front line. And on the These than In ther herbicides has destroyay acros epasme source of Vietnam's human certain weapon against North Viet- abundance for dependent cloud squad- air war. 2,50 tons American все те той, North Vietnam- enemy, fom cloud-seeding to decided have 1950

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Thursday June: First part of a statement by (Trotskyist) of Greece, the International Committee of the The victory of the counter-revolution has been established. 'Law and order' reigns in Boli- via. A victory or a defeat of the working class clearly has international significance on the rela- tion of forces in the social, political, and eco- nomic spheres. Our criticism, translated and reprinted from the ille- gal theoretical organ of the Workers' Vanguard of Greece 'Proletario', is of value only to the extent that it will assist comrades to understand the process of historical future development. And, more important, in so far as it influ- ences the perspectives of the building of the revolutionary and the victory of the party proletarian revolution in our country. As in our country, the tem- porary defeat of the Bolivian working class enables local and foreign reformists to acquire new bases. The immeasurable value of Marxism as a weapon of social and historical orientation is more than indispensable. It is a matter of life and death for all humanity. It demands a daily determined theoretical struggle for dialectical material- ism in philosophy and in methodology in all aspects of to the class struggle, leading the most urgent task of today —the building of the revolu- tionary Trotskyist Party of Greece. We have struggled and we shall continue struggle to against all 'new' roads to revo- lution, against the various "popular' fronts with the fake anti-dictatorship bourgeoisie, against those who castrate the class anti-dictatorial struggle anti-dictator and with mere anti-imperialist attitudes (first junta must go and then the we'll see'). We are opposed to the ene- mies of the construction of a Trotskyist youth movement and those who want the youth to have theories different from , 'the the party and worship spontaneous revolutionary con- sciousness'. And most of all we fight against those who struggle for the reject the Transitional Programme under the influence of the day-to-day struggle, based on the theory of Marxism as a weapon against the various bourgeois influences which are transmit- ted by the bureaucracy and the revisionists into the workers' • movement. The bitter lesson of Bolivia gives us the courage and the will to struggle against ill betrayals, deviations and errors of our own Stalinists and cen- trists. In the final analysis, every error of estimation and tac- str day June 29, 1972 ent by the Workers Vanguard e, the Greek section of the e of the Fourth International.

tics is paid for dearly by our- selves, through arrests, tor- ture and incarceration in the medieval prisons of the hated capitalist military dictatorship.

The critique that follows will, we believe, provoke discussion in the International Committee of the Fourth International and, we hope, among the mem- bers and cadres of the POR and French Organisation Com- muniste Internationaliste.

The deviations of the

POR

develop- The revolutionary ments in Bolivia and the part played in them by the Trotsky- ists of the POR who found themselves in the front line of the class struggle have justi- fiably attracted the attention of the revolutionary vanguard.

A discussion has been opened up in the ranks of the International Committee. We participate in this discussion convinced that the building of the Fourth International and its parties is not possible with- out a full discussion of, and an ideological struggle over, the great events which occur in the arena of international revolu- tion. First, we feel duty bound to pay homage to those of the working class and those Trot- skyists who fell on the battle- ground of the class struggle.

apart from However, this duty, we must face supreme up to the problems arising from the class struggle in Boli- via. On these our lines have divided. The Bolivian question was in fact the culmination of series of differences a long within the IC. The last straw!

We find in the line of the POR deviations of the Pablo- ite type-particularly in their turning away from the Soviet the October experience of revolution, and on the ques- tion of a 'new' line, that of the 'Popular Assembly' The Bolivian problem acquired an international sig- nificance also from the view- put forward by the point leaders of the French organi- zation of the IC—i.e. that a 'Popular Assembly' of 'Soviet type' can become the instrument of the taking of power by the proletariat on a world scale. We firmly believe that this tendency is charac- . deviation from terized by a Soviet principles. The question of Soviets today is the touch- stone for all those tendencies which, in the name of 'realism' and 'modernized' Marxism, in basic reality abandon the principles of the Soviet dic- tatorship of the proletariat.

But what was the root cause of this deviation? The key lies famous axiom, in Lenin's Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.' The struggle for theory has been at the centre of our struggle against the Pabloites Top: Lora of the Bollvlan POR (sacond of the OCI. Above: Barrientos, the forer the feelings of the masses.

and the state capitalists. The struggle for an understanding of dialectic materialism as a theory of knowledge has been at the centre of the divisions in the IC. But once again those who fought for such an understanding have been vin- dicated. It is our contention the explanation of the that POR's betrayal is found in their pragmatic adaptation to circumstances and their ne- glect and contempt for Marxist theory. The bourgeois, counter- revolutionary nature of the Torres dictatorship Torres Torres masqueraded as a representative of the 'left'.

Assisted by the right-wing trade unionist Lechin, with his influence in the unions of the COB (Bolivian Workers' Centre) he was able to create considerable illusions in the masses. Having suffered a long period of dictatorship, parti- cularly under General Bar- rientos, the rebellious masses were deceived by the fake- left phraseology of Torres and • (sacond from loll) with Charles Berg (left) the forerunner of Torres. He adopted a fake a Lechin. Proceeding from deeper motives, they took over the streets from the first moment of the Torres coup.

There is a precedent in the case of Castro. Starting from a bourgeois-democratic move- ment, he was forced to present himself demagogically to the workers and peasants. as a 'communist and to tolerate the growth of the workers' movement. Castro's example has inspired a whole series of military and political career- ists. The Pabloite theory of the genuine communism of Castro, and their hero-worship of the Algerian leadership, as well as that of other Bonapartist such as Nasser, regimes Nkrumah, etc., naturally rein- the forced the illusions of in the 'leftism' of workers various dictatorships in many semi-colonial colonial and countries. The release of Regis Debray, an associate of Che Guevara, was conceived as a smokescreen to delude the masses who were seeking their own freedom. In reality, Torres was flesh from the same body as the which militarist leadership held power on behalf of the financial oligarchy and Ameri- imperialism. His only can motive in opposing the rise of bourgeois political parties was to monopolize the crushing of the labour movement himself.

Torres' coup took place in a period of the sharpening of the cyclical crisis of capital- ism. Major financial crises, the fall of the buying power ot wages, the growth of un- terrifying employment to heignts and social upheavals are the order of the day.

In order to face the criti- ig (loll) and Plerre Lambert (speaking) d a fake anti-imperialist position to divert cal social conditions weighing down on the Bolivian masses and to overcome the crisis at their expense, Torres com- bined demagogy with violence.

He turned to his patrons, the Inter-American Bank and the World Bank and received $50m loans to finance the con- struction of an oil pipeline between Bolivia and Argen- tina in order to alleviate the serious unemployment prob- lem and forestall an uprising of the masses. The American CIA was as much behind the Torres coup as it is with all military pro- nunciamentos in Latin Ameri- ca. This did not prevent Torres demagogically adopt- ing a fake anti-imperialist position. Barrientos did the same. So did all manner of fake fake lefts, • democrats, fake socialists, from Chiang Kai-shek, Castro, Ben Bella, Boumedienne, Nasser, Gaddafi, Bandaranaike, Aref and others, in order to divert the anti- imperialist feelings of the masses from the channel of with the aid of socialism, kinds of opportunist many organizations. However, all the tendencies Assembly' of the Popular organized an 'anti-imperialist front' without, apparently in- cluding Torres as one of their targets. Although US policy towards Torres was one of ambiguity and manoeuvres, certain circles in Washington were already beginning to accuse him of being 'soft on communism' and began to conspire with the gorilismo. What fright- ened them was the growth of the movement and of the Trotskyist factor.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

NUS BAULKS FIGHT

No policy through which British students can assist the struggle against the fascist dictatorship in Spain was forthcoming from the National Union of Students' conference for solidarity with Span- ish students last week in London. The platform speakers con- tented themselves with general denunciations of Spanish fas- cism and made no attempt to link them with the struggle against the Tories in Britain.

Mike Terry, for the NUS executive, told the 100-strong audience that 'solidarity action is tied up with our situation in Britain. We only have to look and see the beginnings of fascist tendencies in our coun- try to see that by informing people you can increase their determination to extend their rights.' Ian Burchall of the Inter- national Socialism group, speaking as a member of the of Teachers in Association Technical Institutions, repressions in described the Spanish universities and equated these fascist attacks with what was going on not and in South Africa only Greece, but also Yugoslavia.

The Stalinists did not chal- lenge this 'state capitalist' posi- tion. ,. a speaker from the 'Carlos', illegal Spanish Workers Com- missions, pointed out the co- ordination achieved between workers, students and pro- fessional people fighting Franco. Like the tourth plat- 'Roberto', form speaker, a Spanish student, 'Carlos' con- fined himself almost entirely to a description of trade union problems. The discussion was largely monopolized by representatives of the Labour Party's so-called who claimed Young Socialists to be speaking in solidarity, . UGT of with the reformist Spain. included These speakers well-known members of the revisionist 'Militant' group.

They correctly criticized the Workers' Commissions for their 'freedom pact' with the bourgeois apparatus of Franco.

They also attacked them for working within the official fas- cist sindicatos. Another speaker was Roger Lyons, national ofticer of the Association of Scientific, Tech- nical and Managerial Staffs, who referred to the sit-in of the Merseyside Fisher-Bendix workers against removal of their work to Spain. None of these revisionists mentioned the growing colla- boration of the East Euro- pean Stalinists with Franco, epitomized by the scab coal from Poland which broke the recent Austrian miners' strike.

Yet 'Carlos' told me the Workers' Commissions had recently sent a delegation to Warsaw to protest against the strike-breaking shipments. He claimed the delegation had been given an official guarantee that the scabs would not be represented The conference again showed revisionists shamelessly the avoiding the basic political questions in order to get closer to the Stalinists who dominate the NUS leadership. This goes as much for their international policy as for Bri- tish questions. Socialist As Young speaker pointed out in the discussion, the only real soli- darity with the struggle against Franco is the fight to bring down the Tory government in Britain. Top: General Franco. Below: NUS President and • Communist Party namber, Digby Jacks Workera Press, Colour A white South African school- girl whose skin turned dark after an operation may come to London for treatment to save her from being thought 'non-white'. The girl is Jane-Anne (17), whose skin Pepler changed from fair to very dark after an operation to counteract a sudden increase in She has been weight. receiving radio-therapy for the past three weeks, but her doc- says there has been no tor visible improvement. A London specialist is re- ported to have offered to help and to have said the case is 'not unusual'. The girl's mother, Anna Snyman said: It is heart- breaking to see Jane-Anne being spurned by people who think she is coloured. It is particularly embarrassing for us because we are a purely Afrikaans family and strong Nationalists. We believe in white supremacy. —Reuter Christian James Fox of The Sunday Times' Colour Magazine has just returned from Vietnam with a number of very grisly anecdotes. He was talking to air force pilot John MacFarlane, a mem- ber of the 'Cobra' wing which has been carrying out satura- tion strafing raids on the work- ers and peasants of Vietnam.

(It's called "Vietnamization'.)

MacFarlane revealed that when he finished his tour of duty he wanted to become a missionary in New Lutheran Guinea, just off Australia.

there any conflict Was between his religion and his gunship driving? Fox asked.

No, said MacFarlane. 'Oh, oughta been here with you Father Dodge,' he went on.

'He always used to say, the ra Prosa, Thuraday Juno 29, 1972 PAGE 9 faster you get 'em the quicker their souls get to heaven.

I feel I'm killing to spare souls. I think the USA is going in the right direction.' Praise be to God, Jimmy Reid and Jack Dash.... Is this a case for the dynamic Official Solicitor Norman Tur- ner? Lambert Jacobs (38), pub- lic house manager of Bethnal London, Green, East was acquitted at the Old Bailey this week of dishonestly handling a police truncheon knowing to be stolen. The prosecution decided not to proceed on the handling charge and Jacobs was dis- charged. Mr Justice O'Connor directed that a verdict of not guilty be entered. Just by the way, Mr Jacobs has spent the last nine months in custody-the police per- sistently refusing bail. on Provos BBC reporters were slightly taken aback last week when they were suddenly allowed to members of interview the Provisional IRA. Throughout the week the corporation chiefs batted not an eyelid as various Provi- sionals came on the magic screen to put their point of view. Last Friday night Seamus Twomey, the Provisionals' leader in Belfast, told millions of viewers that the ceasefire would be made effective: 'When we say there will be a truce, we mean there will be a truce.' The decision to suddenly allow Twomey and others on the was the clearest screen indication that a deal had been struck with the Tory govern- ment. For almost a year the BBC has been operating a straight ban on interviews with IRA members. The iift- ing of this ban shows that the Tories are confident that they have the IRA leaders where they want them.

LEON TROTSKY:

Germany 1931/1932 Paperback £1.25—cloth £1.87} Where Is Britain Going ? Paperback 37}p Revolution Betrayed Paperback 62½p~—Cloth £1.05 Problems of the Chinese Revolution Paperback £1.124—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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Fighting the Tories' Rent Bill Crammed into 'open plan' estates like Woodrow Valley PACE 10 Workers Prosa, Thereday June 22, 1972

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

'REDDITCH—the town in the heart of the country. Rents from £3.50.' Many Birming- ham workers, unable to find decent housing in the vast West Midlands conurbation are lured out to Redditch by these siren calls.

Originally a tiny industrial town, a development corporation was set up in 1964 to plan for a population of 90,000.

Most of this was to be Birmingham over- spill. It will be one of the first towns based on the principles of the Buchanan report, providing 'better with better houses amenities'-central heat- ing, open-plan design, traffic - free pedestrian areas, and so on. Yet there is now a retreat back to Birming- ham and empty houses stand together in groups of two or three. Many workers are unable to find jobs in Redditch. Others don't want them because any redundancies would be the 'last-in, on first-out' basis. Like "new SO many towns' Redditch provides little for the teenager. There are only occasional dances and a request to hold a private discotheque was recently turned down.

Any youth found in the town centre after midnight are often swooped upon by police who want to know what they're doing there.

overcrowded Spaciously planned in some areas, the estates are grossly overcrowded in Row of others. upon row terraced houses, some three-storeyed and with scarcely a window to be seen on one face, squeeze into the Woodrow Valley. In addition, the bus ser- vice is infrequent, erratic And a visit and expensive. to the doctor requires appointments in advance, Jones, leading Mrs Ivy misery of adding the to organization: It's a means-lest re Redditch workers. pacify tenants, will not last The biggest struggle much longer in its present tenants have above all else, With Housing form. the however, 1S over rents Finance Bill unem- an which are high and fre- ployed worker or one who quently increased. is on a low could wage the find tenancy trans- typical three-bed- ferred to his wife or any room house on Greenlands member of the household £8.11 costs weekly, now whose income exceeds his follow- inclusive of rates, The rebate will be own. ing a recent increase of 7p.

reduced or lost. Some four-bedroom houses cost more than £9. One for high reason The much-publicized re- rents is said to be the cost bate scheme, intended to of repairs and maintenance.

ng the move for a tenants' ans-test rent BIII A tenant we interviewed Matchborough the on estate claimed that when his moved into family their new house, the down- stairs toilet had not been finished. He said that a Corporation representative asked him to finish the job himself. A floorboard with wood- worm had still not been repaired although four representatives had been to look at it. 111 The so-called 'open plan' now Woodrow Valley Present rents will be révised and increased fur- ther in july when the gov- ernment's 'fair rents' Bill is expected to become law. Assurances by Corporation officials that this rent will then remain stable for the next three years are treated with a large pinch of salt by most tenants. Everyone knows that rates will continue to rise anyway. The present typi- cal cost rent for Develop- ment Corporation houses Is £14.30, inclusive of rates - the difference between 'fair rent' this and the being graciously met by a government subsidy (taken out of your taxes anyway).

But it is Tory policy that 'fair' rents should eventu- ally rise to cost rent levels.

Tenants are now beginning to organize against rent increases. There are moves by ordinary tenants, indepena- of the official resi- ent dents' associations, such as the one on Lodge Park, which is run mainly by private house owners. In the local elections many Tory councillors were thrown out and Labour failed to take control by only one seat. means test A recent_meeting_called by Mrs Ivy Jones of Wood- row Estate was attended by 300 angry tenants. Now all the Development Corpora- tion estates are being can- vassed for a mass meeting tomorrow at the Leys High School to organize a move to refuse to pay any more rent increases. Dele- union from gations branches are being invited to attend. Mrs Jones told Workers Press that she remembéred the days of the means test and is determined they will never return. As far as she is concerned it is a means test rent Bill which the an' now town crams house upon h government is pushing ste through. It is becoming increas ingly obvious that the building of well-designed new towns is another good idea which has foundered on the rock of capitalism.

New town tenants are in head-on conflict with the Tory government. It is the not the government and local council which is their landlord. One tenant interviewed by Workers Press, a shop The Development Corporation he ground • upon house into places like Austin's steward from factory, Longbridge is haunted by the fear that Redditch may become a ghost town, a rural prison camp, with workers un- able to afford anything but the rent. The steward — now involved in a rents battle —is also in favour of build- ing Councils of Action to drive out the Tories now, with their together 'fair rents' Bill and the Indus- trial Relations Act. ration headquarters in wooded

Women bring whisky combine

ITV

open golf championship. Women today. 12.40 Common Market cookbook. 1.05 Bellbird. 1.20 Sunbeam golf. 2.05 Castle haven. 2.30 Good afternoon! 3.00 Houseparty. 3.15 wild. Joker's 3.45 Marcus Welby MD. 4.40 Nuts and bones. 4.55 Secret squirrel. 5.20 How. 5.50 News. 9.20-9.35 Along the river. 11.18-

6.00 TODAY.

11.38 Schools. 12.55-1.25 Hen

6.30 CROSSROADS.

WITH MY

allorau. 1.30 Joe. 1.53 Wimbledon

6.55 FILM:

Tony

WIFE YOU DON'T'.

Magic roundabout. 1972. 4.50 Curtis, Lisi, George Virna 4.55 Blue Peter. 5.20 Boss cat.

Scott. Hollywood 5.44 Parsley. 5.50 News and comedy.

9.00 NEAREST AND DEAREST.

weather. Workers' Playtime.

6.00 YOUR REGION TONIGHT.

9.30 THIS WEEK.

10.00 NEWS AT TEN.

6.15 WIMBLEDON 1972.

10.30 CINEMA. Richard Rodgers.

7.25 TOP OF THE POPS.

11.00 SUNBEAM GOLF

8.00 THE GOODIES.

12.30 BEHIND

THE

8.30 THE

BURKE SPECIAL.

director Ken Loach James Burke. Film talks to Guy Thomas. 9.00 NINE O'CLOCK NEWS and weather. 9.20 ELIZABETH R. Horrible Conspiracies.

10.50 24 HOURS.

CHANNEL:

11.00-3.55 London. 4.05 Nuts and

11.35 WINDOWS ON THE BRAIN.

bones. 4.18 Puffin. The Model Maker. With 4.22 Funny face. 4.50 Skippy. 5.20 London. 6.00 News, weather.

Professor Richard Gregory.

12.00 Weather. 6.10 Hogan's heroes. 6.35 Cross- 7.00 Film: 'The Crowded roads. Sky'. 9.00 London. 10.32 Maverick.

11.20 News, weather.

BBC 2

WESTWARD. As Channel except: 4.18 News. 3.55 Gus Honeybun. Report. 11.25 11.00-11.25 Play school. 4.30 6.00 Diary. 10.30 Wimbledon 1972. 12.20 News, weather. Epilogue. 7.30 NEWSROOM and weather.

8.00 GREAT

PARKS

OF

THE

SOUTHERN: 11.00 London. 3.00

WORLD.

Nairobi, East Golf. 4.00 Houseparty. 4.15 Send for Dithers. Cross- Africa. 4.30

8.30 THE VISITORS.

4.55 Richard the roads. lion-

9.20 SHOW

OF 6.00 Day

THE WEEK:

hearted. a 20 london.

KEITH MITCHELL.

6.45 Dr Simon by day. Locke.

10.10 MATCH

OF

THE DAY.

7.15 Film: 'Ride Crooked Wimbledon. From Trail'. 9.00 London. 11.30 News.

Marcus 10.50 NEWS ON 2 and weather.

11.40 Welby MD. 12.30

'PANDORA'S BOX'.

Weather, Epilogue.

10.55 FILM:

Second of three films by German director Georg W

HARLECH:

1.30 Arthur. 1.55 Out 2.15 Golf. 3.20 Com- Pabst. of town. IF YOU have any illu- sions about the apathy of women workers you should get the next train to Glasgow and stand outside the Slater Rodger Her remark about whisky bottling plant qualified. be wages are low everywhere-especially in early one morning. Scotland. So the £15 take-home the girls earn is only 'good' com- This is the latest flashpoint pared with the meagre norm.

of a running battle between In fact Distillers, in common the whisky workers and Scot- with all the big whisky houses, land's biggest manufacturer derive enormous profit from their Distillers Ltd. - often army of temale labour fresh from school. Slater 90-pericknt female, tas picket The The strikers the say steep Rodger, climb in the of living and cost been confronted by the police the gains won by workers like for three mornings in a row.

the and the railwaymen miners Girls claim they have been for such are main reasons the ground in the unprecedented militancy. thrown to scabs caused when the crush "They women not sneak in to work. say are militant. Well they ought to dawn they keep But every • Their aim is to make turning up. SlaterR the sixth Distil- Rodger ers plant to close. Distillers' labour force is made mainly of -particu- by up Despite desperate attempts a handful of scabs to dodge into larly girls from school young dangerous who want quick money. main work across Many leave after two or three the railwayline, production in years to get married or to other plant is almost at a standstill.

jobs. line are In the front girls Mrs Mary Mackie, shop Mary. like Cathy, Sandra and Distillers' St steward White whisky The Black and Leonard's Edinburgh plant in Shotts, Glasgow, plant at near the job of says this makes closed they work was where organizing unions more difficult.

in the two-week strike. early against school- am helping Now they are out at leavers getting jobs, but it's hard Slaters. to get a militant attitude because of the turnover,' she said.

has Sandra, whose husband Distillers' have returns been on strike for six weeks at steadily risen for decade. In Clyde- Singer sewing machine profit before tax 1962 and de- Her bank, bottles the whisky. preciation was £32m; in 1965 it label and the friends two was £44m and last year it was a bottles further down the line. cool £54m. Profit

AFTER

tax 'The pay is OK for women,

AND

depreciation in 1971 was 'But a handsome £33m—DOUBLE the Sandra. the work is says You're on the go all day level a decade ago. hard. The yield share has and the management control the per speed of the line. It wears steadily increased. Last it you was 7.25 per cent and £23m was out.' Flim director Ken Loach talla ITV (London only) tonight at 12 mon Market cookbook. Simon Locke. 4.15 ment. 4.30 Crossroads. 4.55 J 90. 5.20 London. 6.02 West. 6.18 Report Wales. 6.

Sky's the limit. 7.10 'Marines Let's Gol' 9.00 Londo 10.30 A drop in the ocean. 11.( gue. London. 11.30 Saint.

HTV West as above except: 6.1 6.35 Sport West. HTV Wales and HTV Cymr Wales as above except: 4.15-4.: Miri mawr. 6.01-6.18 Y dydd. ANGLIA: 11.00 London. 2.30 Lo don. 3.00 Golf. 4.10 News. 4.'

Jimmy Stewart. 5.40 Paulus. 4.

Out Skippy. 5.20 London. 6.00 Abo om- Anglia. 6.20 Arena. 6.35 Cros

FROM STEPHEN JOHNS IN GLASG(

come up to Shotts. Our mili ancy shut that place quic enough says Cathy. The unic official told me i Distillers g £54m profit last year. We mal it and we want a bit of it back Apart from Shotts and Gla gow, the strike has stopped Di tillers' plants in Kilmarnoc Leith and Edinburgh. The late is a bid to cut off Di move tillers' exports by getting the blacked on the docks. Behind the pay issue is a ser ous threat of redundancies. No mally, in every 12-month co tract, the unions insist and g a clause giving security employment. paid out in dividends to shar holders. The share holding b the 18-man board of director netted each one an averag £88,000 last year. This is o top of their salaries. You could have bought Distillers share for 99p in 197 and sold it for 180p last year profit of almost 100 per cent.

This huge octopus of a com pany controls 160 companies i 18 different countries. It own some of the most popular name in the hard liquor field includin Johnny Walker, Haig, Black an White, Dewars and whiskies; Booths and Gordon gins; Cossack vodka and Pimm: It owns United Glass which i bought for £14,683,000 in 196 It shares Bakelite Xylonit with Union Carbide and th Indisan Yeast Co. It sold it chemical interests (apart fror carbon dioxide manufacture) t BP for £9m worth of BP share and £25m cash. Workers Press, Thuraday Juno 29, 1972 PAGE 11 London.

YORKSHIRE: 11.00

3.00 Golf. 4.10 News. 4.15 Crossroads. 4.40 London. 4.55 Bugs Bunny. 5.20 London. 6.00 Calendar, weather. 6.30 takes thief. a 7.20 Film: 'Murder Most Foul'. 9.00 London. 11.30 Scales 12.05 Weather. justice.

GRANADA:

11.00 London. 2.30 Saint. 3.25 All yesterdays. our 3.55 in action. 4.10 Camera Place. News. Peyton 4.40 Lon- Make don. 4.55 wish. 5.15 London. 6.00 News. Police file. 6.25 of Joannie. 7.00 I dream London. 7.30 Film: 'Columbo'. 8.50 Sylvester. 9.00 London. 11.30 On the line.

TYNE

TEES: 11.00-1.00 London. 2.32 3.00 Golf. 4.10 London. 4.40 News. 4.15 Crossroads. 5.20 Lon- 4.55 Rovers. Smith don. 6.00 Today. 6.30 7.00 Popeye. 7.10 family. Film. 9.00 11.30 'Zarak'. London. Police call. 11.35 Short story. News. 12.20 Epilogue. 12.05

BORDER: 1.30

Golf. 3.40 News. 3.45 Women today. 4.10 Out of town. 4.35 Enchanted house. 6.00 4.50 Rovers. 5.20 London. News. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 New . 7.00 New At i8 Behind the scones' on how 7.15 world. Film: London. of Casa Grande'. 9.00 11.30 Pursuers. 12.00 News. 3.45 Dr roads. 7.00 Sale. 7.30 Film: Tinkertain. Holiday'. 9.00 'Harem London. 4.55 Joe 10.30

SCOTTISH:

11.00 London. 3.30 Healthy by nature. 11.05 Cross- Report Cinema. 11.40 Golf. Once upon time. 3.45 Dateline. 4.10 4.55 Fire- 6.35 Film: ball XL5. 5.20 London. 6.00

ATV MIDLANDS:

1.00 Golf. 3.10 6.15 A place of .00 London. Dateline. her 3.35 Horoscope. Good afternoon. cean. 11.00 7.00 Film: 'Kings Go 3.40 Women today. 4.10 Family Forth'. 9.00 London. 11.30 Late affair. 4.35 Rupert bear. 4.50 11.35 Beagan gaidhlig. call. Pretenders. 5.20 6.00 London. xcept: 6.18- Today. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Sky's the limit. 7.30 Film: "Top

GRAMPIAN,

11.00 London. 3.32 of the World'. 9.00 London.

News. 3.35 Job 3.40 look. Cymru/ Women today. 4.10 Julia. 4.40 pt: 4.15-4.30 11.00

ULSTER:

4.10 and 4.55 Rumblie London. bones. dydd. Gourmet. 4.30 Romper jumblie. 5.20 London. 6.00 News, room. 4.50 News. 4.55 Rovers. 5.20 weather. 6.05 Folk afore us. 6.35 6.00 News. Part- 7.30 n. 2.30 Lon- London. 6.10 Crossroads. 7.00 Survival. 4.15 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Film: 'Stop the World I Want to ners. Get Off. Paulus. 4.55 8.55 Police Shirley's world. 7.30 Film: news. 9.00 'Belles on Their 9.00 Lon- 11.30 Viewfinder. 12.00 About Toes'. London. Cross- don. 11.30 What's it all about? Epilogue. clause,' he said. 'There will be no settlement of this dispute until we get this security. With the increase in the cost of living and the way this Tory government is developing, no worker can afford to give up

N GLASGOW

gains like these' Despite the strike's solidarity Our milit- But one 'string' the firm's the General and Municipal Work.

on latest is quick offer that man- Union steadfastly ers' has 'The union should the agement have right refused to back the strike.

Unmis- got to fire when they like. make takably this that redun- means Its Scottish officer George of it back,' dancies are on the way this year. Robertson has attacked the will The workers say they not Transport and General Work- and Glas- the end dispute until they have ers' Union in the local press for topped Dis- won back their old right. encouraging the strike before Kilmarnock, 'consulting' the G&M. latest George Haggarty, shop off Dis- the Edin- steward from one them burgh plants, explained: «The firm is open Fife. new le is a seri- £10m plant at Leven, We this ancies. Nor- fear will incorporate much The 'Municipal' as it is known of the work done in the smaller on the picket line, has con. held a ist and get places. We are sure that the firm ballot members got a of want redundancies. This is why two-to-one majority against they of the want to get rid strike action. The firm has responded with obvious glee to this split.

Robértson's the quotes been have circulated by management to the strikers as propaganda. Its chief executive is Alexander share When the Washington Street McDonald. one of the four by plant of Slater Rodger was closed f directors wise men' who recommended Glasgow,

G&WU

members

UCS

average the closure of the four were transferred Seaward to is divisions. McDonald is also on on Street. This sight, caused emo- the board of the National Com- tions to boil among the

ANAN

mercial Banking Group. normally peaceful women strik- 9p in 1970 Other directors include The ers. Rt Hon Forteviot of ast year-a Baron Eton Oxford, chairman of cent. and Negotiations have been opened of a com- the Dewar's group. He lives far by the union, but the strike from the of action mpanies in away scene promises to go on for some time Dupplin Castle, Perth. owns at The workers vet. are adamant ular names Another board-room worthy is about the redundancy clause and of Halesburv. the Earl a direc- d including. the firm is equally determined Black and of Head Wrightson's engin- tor to keep its hands free to swing combine Toseph Crawfords eering and the iobs it feels it is when Lucas. Gordons necessary. and Pimms. dinlomatic touch is added My Sir James "They can't treat us like cattle,' which it James Alexander Milne 1969. said one bitter girl on the picket Ambassador to Xulonite the UK delesation of the Com. line after police escorted comA Market and the European the mon operatives a plant. into Coal and Steel Community. its from In short Distillers is very much The roar of 'Aye' from the of what housewives to monopoly capitalism is teenagers and round BP shares fairlv made of-as the women pickets about the up are beginning to find out.

mood of determination.

PAGE 12 Workers Press, Thursday June

BY DAVID MAUDE

BRITISH RAIL management at Swindon workshops yesterday refused to pay five charge hands for the period of their suspen- sion in a dispute on the move- ment of repaired work and com- ponents to outside depots.

Management took this position in talks with leading shop stew- ards at the 3,000-strong works yesterday morning. The talks followed the sit-in last Thursday strike starting afternoon, by 450 men in two departments. The strikers were back to normal working yester- day pending the outcome of the negotiations. Yesterday afternoon in Lon- don, national and local unions from two unions-the engineers and the electricians— accompanied by their convenors held talks with British Rail Engi- neering Limited. The talks believed to were concern two issues: • The 'black' on the movement of work; and • Local management's refusal to recognize a shop steward for unofficial allegedly calling an meeting over a previous dispute.

British Rail has just announced the names of 630 men it intends to make redundant in December.

Union officials fear a further 300 jobs will be threatened in January as part of BREL's plan to phase out locomotive work at Swindon altogether. Manager ent is fighting hard to een there issues separate.

ALL TRADES UN

ALLIANCE MEET

The currency crisis and the working class CROYDON: Monday July 8 p.m. Ruskin House, Coombe DAGENHAM: Tuesday July 4, 8 p.m. Co-op Hall, Fanshawe Avenue, Barking.

LONDON:

SOUTH

WEST

Tuesday July 4, 8 p.m. Clap- ham Manor Baths, Clapham Manor St, SW4 NORTH LONDON: Thursday 'Bricklayers July 6, 8 p.m. PRESTON: Thursday June 29, 8 p.m. Railway and Commer- cial Hotel (near railway station), Butler Street. DAVENTRY: Thursday, June 29, 8 p.m. Social Club, New Street, 'Build Councils of Action' LEICESTER: Thursday June 29, 8 p.m. 'The Rocket', New Parks Estate. 'Fight the Tories' "fair rent" Bill' SOUTHALL: Thursday June 29, Community Centre, 8 p.m. Bridge Rd. 'Force the Tories to resign.

LATE NEWS

SEVEN Republican prisoners on in military custody at remand Curragh Dublin, went on hunger yesterday demanding strike political prisoner status. Some of the men, who are waiting to be tried before the no-jury Special Court, from Criminal are Northern Ireland. SEVENTY-two prisoners began a sit-down at Maidstone Jail, Kent, yesterday for 'unspecified reasons'. MORE THAN 100 laboratory occasion. sday June 29, 1972 SCUFFLES between The site i: six in Lond police and a mass picket workers strike for of building broke out at the London workers n Weekend New Teleyision of £35 fo Centre when electricians week. and a few others tried to cross the picket line.

from sev

, UNIONS

MEETINGS

Arms', Tottenham High Rd, (nr White Hart Lane). Thursday

LUTON:

July 6, 8 p.m. St John Ambulance Brigade Hall, Lea Road. SOUTH EAST LONDON: Thurs- day July 6, 8 p.m. Depitoro Engineers' Club (opposite Nev Cross Stn).

ACTON:

Monday 10, July 8 p.m. Co-op Hall, High Rd.

EAST LONDON: Tuesday July 11, 8 p.m. 'Aberfeldy', Aber- feldy Street, E.14. (nr Black- wall Tunnel). WANDSWORTH: Thursday June field Road an Baths, Build Balham. field Road, Councils of Action' NOTTINGHAM: Thursday June 29, 7.30 'The Lion' p.m. Clumber Street. 'Build Councils of Action. Force the Tories Out.' EASTLEIGH: Tuesday July 4, The buffet room, 7.30 p.m. Town Hall. LEICESTER: Wednesday July 5, 8 p.m. Queen's Hotel, Rut- 'Build Councils of land Action'.

WEATHER

AFTER a few early morning mist patches inland, most districts will have sunny periods and scattered showers. Over Northern Ireland, Wales and South-West Englanc the showers will become light and infrequent later in the day.

In South-East England and parts of East Anglia and central- southern England it will become cloudy during the evening and there may be rain in places.

It will be rather cool generally.

Outlook for Friday and Satur- day: Some rain or showers at 186a Japham Mich Street, London 'he site is one of the sites presented a form able obstacle for the 1 ix in London on oflicial electricians trike for the building prepared to vorkers national claim EPTU's official line a f £35 for '35-hour cross the picket line Police lines 250 workers twice before electrici shop rom several London steward LEEDS building workers have deci stoppage if any of their members a by the employers. This was decid meeting of 300 building trades wo on Tuesday night. There are three sites on strike Leeds in support the in of national pay claim—Laing's in Boar Lane, Wimpey's, Albion Street, and Mowlem's at the Merrion Centre. Arthur Dale-a Communist Party member-proposed soli- darity action and called on miners, clothing workers and workers in ancillery industries to give support. In particular he appealed to workers at Yorkshire Imperial Metals who supply copper pipes to the various Leeds sites.

There was pressure from the LIVERPOOL dock shop stew- ards yesterday lifted the black- ing of vehicles owned by Bishop's Wharf Ltd following an agreement that the stuffing and stripping of containers would be done by registered dock workers. The Warrington-based con- tainer transport firm had been blacked for several months by the joint dock and haulage shop stewards committee. Jimmy Symes, leader of the port stewards' committee said: I am pleased they have signed the agreement. The blacking is now lifted and if they send any vehicles to the docks they will be taken care of.' Containers of two other firms, Heatons of St Helens and Crad- dock's, a Wolverhampton com- pany with a Bootle depot, remain blacked. The two companies, together with Panalpina Services Ltd and Panalpina Northern Ltd of Brad- ford, are appealing to the House of Lords against the Court of decision absolving Appeal Transport and General Workers' Union from responsibility for the actions of its dock stewards in imposing the black. Meanwhile in London, a com- pany planning to open a con- tainer depot next month is apply- ing to take on registered dockers.

The depot on the Blackwell Trading Estate, Poplar, will be ted a formid- Denman intervened and e for the few called out all his men in support of the building who were toe the workers, pending con- cial line and sultations with icket line. official leadership. The broke workers who had gone e electricians in were clapped as they Eddie walked out of the gate. lave decided to press for a national embers are threatened or victimized as decided unanimously by a mass ades workers at Leeds Trades Hall floor of the meeting to extend the strike immediately After the unanimous vote to continue the strike, many non- union men joined their respective unions. • Earlier this week 6,000 Mersey- side building workers unani- mously passed a resolution at the Pierhead affirming full deter- mination to fight for the union's claim. Many workers were disgusted with the selected strike policy.

They demanded all-out strike action. operated by Always (Universal) who have already been granted registration by the London Dock Labour Board • and have applied to the Port of London Authority for a stevedoring licence.

It is understood that only four SHOP STEWARDS representing Liverpool dock workers yesterday passed a resolution calling on all registered dock workers to with- draw their labour from midnight July 25. They are demanding that shop stewards from each port sit on high powered negotiating com- mittees discussing the jobs situa- tion and that a national stew- ards' delegation meet the Trans- port and General Workers' Union executive council immediately in order that they can put their case. The resolution will be put to the national docks stewards meeting on Saturday. dockers would be employed at the start handling about 20 con- taners a week. If trade builds up as the com- Socialist Labour League Public Meetings

SWINDON

Friday June 30, 8 p.m. 'The Locomotive' Farringdon Road. Make the Tory government resign THE TORY government is to introduce legislation which will destroy hard-won rights of the individual who comes in conflict with the law.

This follows the decision by Secretary Reginald Home Maudling to accept the report of the Criminal Law Revision Committee. The committee, which comprises High Court judges Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Norman Skelhorn, has recommended a number of viciously repressive changes in the present law. Among its conclusions are: • Ending of the police caution.

• Restriction on the accused's right to stay silent during his trial. • Wives may be called to give evidence against husbands.

• Former conduct and con- victions of the accused can be heard in court. The right-wing Monday Club and Tory press yesterday welcomed the The moves. 'Daily Telegraph' editorial said that the changes in the law something to im- would prove the situation'. In the face of this Tory attack on civil liberties is that of the most revealing reaction the cringing reformists. Mrs Shirley Williams, Shadow Home Secretary, issued a state.

ment saying 'welcomed she steps that would enable the courts to deal effectively with hardened professional criminal'. But some aspects of the pro- changes she found posed 'disturbing'. Mrs Williams, a devoted Jenkins- ite, voted with the Tories on the Common Market last October. The Law Society put out an equally anaemic statement.

The Tories can only be stopped from stripping the rights of the working class if they are removed from office. The next Labour government must be pledged to repeal all legislation, like the Industrial Relations Act, which attacks basic democratic rights. pany wants it the number could rise to just ten. To start with the firm will only pack contain- ers. They will leave the depot by road. Picketing is still in force at F. J. Robertson's depot in Mill- wall. London dockers outside the gates since Monday have cut the container traffic by half.

A spokesman for the firm said yesterday that the pickets had given no indication of how many jobs the dockers were claiming as their own. WORKERS at Keeton's Engineer- ing factory Sheffield, temporarily resumed work yesterday-after eight-day round-the-clock an occupation-to discuss ten-point jobs. peace formula over Con- vener George Bullivant said: 'We are firm on this. We are accept- ing no more redundancies. We've lost 140 men over the last year. The main points are there must be work-sharing and no redun- dancies and any deployment of labour must be under the control of the shop stewards. This agree.

ment will not be legally binding'

OXFORD

Wednesday July 5, 8 p.m. Council. Chamber Oxford Town Hall Speaker: G. Healy (SLL national secretary