Workers Press no. 809

workers press AS THE TUC leaders scuttled into 10 Down- ing Street at 4.30 p.m. yesterday to hold talks with the Tory master, the pound collapsed further on the foreign exchange markets. In late trading it had fallen to an effective devaluation of 9 per cent. Any contemplation whatso- ever of a compromise with the Tories over the Industrial Re- lations Act, wages or prices, is completely shattered by the economic crisis. Even David Malbert, city edi- 'Evening tor of the London Standard' and one of nature's most buoyant optimists, was forced to concede in his front page story yesterday: Undervalued 'If the rate drops to $2.40 or below, other countries could de- cide that our currency is under- valued, giving us an unfair trading advantage in overseas markets. *They might then float their own currencies or make formal devaluations. This could trigger off a currency war, throwing the whole international trading struc- ture into chaos.' TWO important articles

STERLING

DEVALUATION

appear today and tomorrow Make sure you see 'The role of the dollar' (page 4) and 'A crisis of credit' by ordering your copy now. Tel 01-622 7029

INCORPORATING THE

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTR

BY ALEX MITCHELL

Meanwhile the Bank of England announced yesterday that Britain's gold reserves had plunged by $185m in June to stand at $6,965m. The June figure does not take into account the intervention by the Bank in the last week of the month to protect sterling before devaluation. Yesterday's Downing Street talks took place in an almost un- real atmosphere. On the eve of the meeting Heath told the Com- mons he was prepared to modify parts of the Industrial Relations Act if the unions agree to co- operate with it. This is the same Heath who said only a few weeks ago: 'We have got this Bill, we are going to use it, and we will see this through.' Another element in the situa- tion was the extension of the 'prices pledge' for three months orchestrated by the Confedera- tion of British Industry (CBI).

But everyone knows that the so-called 'freeze' has been a farce.

Those firms which have broken the 5 percent include some of the country's biggest groups - Ford, British-Leyland and the textile and paint manufacturers.

And Labour leader Harold Wilson was in. Morecambe for the miners' annual conference telling them that the Tory had pursued government policy of deliberate confronta- tion with the unions'-which must have come as no surprise to NUM delegates. He referred to the monetary crisis but once.

NG THE NEWSLETTER

WEDNESDAY JULY

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SO

If private industry had shown the same productivity increases as had the mines, he said, the not be floating pound would downwards as it was today, but riding high. This drew a sour response from miners who know the price of Wilson's productivity - pit redundancies closures, massive working dangerous conditions. The Downing St meeting was made doubly bizarre by the 'Evening Standard' posters which lined the route of the TUC leaders' drive from Congress House to Whitehall. They shouted banner head- lines about the economic crisis.

Nevertheless, Feather and his friends had nothing but smiles for the press and television as they disappeared through the bullet-proof door to see Heath.

Dangers Instead grovelling of at Heath's doorstep, the trade union leaders should be pressing the demand of the hour which is the forcing of the Tories out of office. Each day the Tories remain in power the dangers to the work- ing class mount. Money is being given out hand over fist. But for what? Does seriously believe anyone British computer industry can be resurrected on fllm, trade which is already beset with the sharpest competition domi- nated by the US and Japan?

4p

AY JULY 5, 1972

• No. 809

HE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

Faced with a crisis of historic proportions to their system, the Tories could strike out at any time. Their present policy is to let inflation rip. Another expression of this policy was posed on Monday when the Tories doled out another £llm to International Computers Limited, the British computer conglomerate. To settle the question of value of its currency, the Tories have only one law-the law of ex- ploitation of the working class.

• To meet its present crisis this 'law' will be wielded with un- paralleled violence. • End all talks with the Tories.

Recall the TUC. Make the Tories resign. TUC chiefs go Into 10 Downing Street yesterday for their re- quested talks with Heath. Above: General secretary Victor Feather and below: T&GWU leader Jack Jones

JULY FUND:

THIS MONTH our sights are set high. We are trying to raise £1,750, £500 more than our tar- get, before our Summer Camp begins on July 22. So far we have £129.37. From your mag- nificent response each month, we know you will do everything you can. Tough-talking by Heath may force the union leaders to retreat but tor the working class it will only rouse even greater numbers Into action to make this govern- ment resign. Workers Press remains in the forefront of the fight against the Tories and we are confident that behind it is all your support.

Therefore, press ahead today.

Our target must be raised so there is not a moment to lose.

Collect as much as you can and post to: Workers Press July Appeal Fund, 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UG.

workers press AS THE TUC leaders scuttled into 10 Down- ing Street at 4.30 p.m. yesterday to hold talks with the Tory master, the pound collapsed further on the foreign exchange markets. In late trading it had fallen to an effective devaluation of 9 per cent. Any contemplation whatso- ever of a compromise with the Tories over the Industrial Re- lations Act, wages or prices, is completely shattered by the economic crisis. Even David Malbert, city edi- the London 'Evening tor of Standard' and one of nature's most buoyant optimists, was forced to concede in his front page story yesterday: Undervalued If the rate drops to $2.40 or below, other countries could de- cide that our currency is under- an unfair valued, giving us trading advantage in overseas markets. "They might then float their own currencies or make torma devaluations. This could triggel oft a currency war, throwing the whole international trading struc- ture into chaos.' TWO important articles

STERLING

DEVALUATION

appear today and tomorrow Make sure you see 'The role of the dollar' (page 4) and 'A crisis of credit' by ordering your copy now. Tel 01-622 7029

INCORPORATING THE

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTR

BY ALEX MITCHELL

Meanwhile the Bank of England yesterday announced that Britain's gold reserves had plunged by $185m in June to stand at $6,965m. The June figure does not take into account the intervention by the Bank in the last week of the month to protect sterling before devaluation. Yesterday's Downing Street talks took place in an almost un- real atmosphere. On the eve of the meeting Heath told the Com- mons he was prepared to modify parts of the Industrial Relations Act if the unions agree to co- operate with it. This is the same Heath who said only a few weeks ago: 'We have got this Bill, we are going to use it, and we will see this through' Another element in the situa- tion was the extension of the 'prices pledge' for three months orchestrated by the Confedera- tion of British Industry (CBI).

But everyone knows that the so-called 'freeze' has been a farce.

Those firms which have broken the 5 per cent include some of the country's biggest groups — Ford, British-Leyland and the textile and paint manufacturers.

And Labour leader Harold Wilson was in. Morecambe for the miners annual conference telling them that the Tory government had pursued policy of deliberate confronta- tion with the unions'-which must have come as no surprise to NUM delegates. He referred to the monetary crisis but once.

VG THE NEWSLETTER • WEDNESDAY JULY

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SO

If private industry had shown the same productivity increases as had the mines, he said, the pound would not be floating downwards as it was today, but riding high. This drew a response from miners who know the price of Wilson's productivity - pit closures, massive redundancies dangerous working conditions. The Downing St meeting was made doubly bizarre by 'Evening Standard' posters which of the TUC lined the route leaders' drive from Congress House to Whitehall. They shouted banner head- lines about the economic crisis.

Nevertheless, Feather and his friends had nothing but smiles for the press and television as they disappeared through the bullet-proof door to see Heath.

Dangers Instead of grovelling at Heath's doorstep, the trade union leaders should be pressing the demand of the hour which is the forcing of the Tories out of office. Each day the Tories remain in power the dangers to the work- ing class mount. Money is being given out hand over fist. But for what? Does seriously believe anyone a British computer industry can Ellm, in be resurrected on trade which is already beset with the sharpest competition domi- nated by the US and Japan?

AY JULY 5, 1972 • No. 809 • 4p

HE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

Faced with a crisis of historic proportions to their system, the Tories could strike out at any time. Their present policy is to let inflation rip. Another expression of this on Monday policy was posed when the Tories doled out another fllm to International Computers Limited, the British conglomerate. computer To settle the question of value of its currency, the Tories have law-the law of ex- only one ploitation of the working class.

: To meet its present crisis this 'law' will be wielded with un- paralleled violence. • End all talks with the Tories.

Recall the TUC. Make the Tories resign. TUC chlets go into 10 Downing Street yesterday for their re- quested talks with Heath. Above: General secretary Victor Feather and below: T&GWU leader Jack Jones

JULY FUND:

THIS MONTH our sights are set high. We are trying to raise £1,750, £500 more than our tar- get, before our Summer Camp begins on July 22. So far we have £129.37. From your mag- nificent response each month, we know you will do everything you can. Tough-talking, by Heath may only rouse even greater numbers Into action to make this govern- ment resign. Workers Press remains in the forefront of the fight against the Torles and we are confident that behind It is all your support.

Therefore, press ahead today.

Our target must be ralsed so there is not a moment to lose.

Collect as much as you can and post to: Workers Press July Appeal Fund, 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UG.

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Wedneoday July 5, 1972

AROUND THE WORLD

BY A FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

THE NEW Italian Prime Minister, Christian Demo- crat Giulio Andreotti, presented his governmental programme to the Chamber of Deputies yesterday at the start of a crucial confidence debate.

His government is the outcome of weeks of bar- gaining since the inconclusive May elections. Com- posed predominantly of Christian Democrats, it is supported by the Social Democrats and Liberals, as well as by the Republicans who have, however, decided not to join the government.

For the third day running most papers did not appear as continued their journalists strike against the proprietors' decision not to bring out Mon- day editions in future owing to the high cost of Sunday work- , Only Communist and neo- ing. fascist papers were available.

government aims The new to beat the law-and-order drum to restore the confidence the of the middle class in Italian state. It has to face an depression with economic unemployment and a severe JOHN GOLLAN, secretary of militant working class only the Communist Party, has had held back by the Stalinist and a meeting in London with an reformist leaderships. Iragi delegation composed • Other details of the pro- assessed leaders of the ruling will be in two gramme two Iraqi CP tomorrow's Workers Press; Ba'ath Party, committee members central of the Kurdish and a leader Democratic Party, which is a pro-Moscow nationalist party. The Ba'ath Party seized power 1963 and proceeded to in murder torture and imprison, who thousands of communists had supported the previous gov- Kassem. General ernment ot When the Soviet Union became with sup- more closely involved and porting the Ba'athist regime assisting the development of the oil industry, pressure was put on Iraqui to co-operate communists with the Ba'athists. invited The Ba'ath Party was TALKS BETWEEN President to send a delegation to the 24th Pompidou and Chancellor Communist of the Congress Willy Brandt end today, Party of the Soviet Union. It was leav- ing differences between France with the same respect treated Kuomin- the once accorded to and West Germany over mone- policy and the future of tang. tary that The only difference was the Common Market not fully while Chiang Kai-shek butchered resolved. left Mos- after communists The French want tougher mea- butchered Ba'athists the cow, international then cur- first and were спгас то стат communists rency speculation as a prelude to Moscow! invited to closer monetary economic and Congress, in After the 24th integration within the Common 1971, Vladimir Novikov, May Market. member, Committee Central to Baghdad The two leaders agreed that made a special visit Ba'athists and the the proposed Common Market the bring should together. As a summit go ahead, but Communist Party Pompidou continued corollary to the 15-year treaty of to express doubts about whether it could Coun- between friendship be held in October as planned. ministers communist tries two He said that it still remained to entered the government. became Min- work out an agenda for the meet- Talabani Makran ing and fix a date. and Amer of Irrigation ister Minister of State with- Brandt claimed that West Abdullah, out portfolio. They were hostages Germany France had and 'as position common a as possible Kremlin pres- there under Dut the development of the see that the treaty on sure Common Market. carried out. in all Gollan's role What is He political inno- this? is no delegation's cent and the Iraqui give

OVAMBO,

Kavango and East intended to was not visit Caprivi 'partial to are to be given much-needed moral support internal self government' by the King St. And the visit was given the 'Morn- South African apartheid regime. prominence some whose benefit? The announcement came after Star'-for ing Gollan prolonged trouble in Ovamboland What is certain is that and supports the wing and mounting unrest among the endorses Communist Iraqui Party majority African population of the which has clasped hands with the Prime Minister Dr Balthazar another Vorster may be worried by the Ba'athist butchers. takes discontent because he has now of communists massacre limited model self- the agreed to discuss in Iraa. after place the Sudan last July, government with representatives of that in at least the responsibility of john of the Damara people face to will be clear. Collar i face. Andreotti (In foreground) in pensive moo THE UNITED STATES has been secretly seeding clouds over Vietnam and Laos for nine years 'The New York Times' has disclosed. The report was based on a extensive interviews series of with civilian and government military sources. The dropping of silver iodide into clouds is not covered by any international warfare conventions and the US administration has declined to comment. officials questioned Some claimed the government was trying to change the weather to suit its convenience and one is reported to have said: 'What's worse, dropping bombs or rain?'

"Times' The rèvealed that a method had also been developed for treating clouds with a chemi- cal that eventually produced an acidic rainfall which fouled the operation of North Vietnamese radar equipment used for di- recting surface to air missiles.

A PLAN to overthrow Presi- dent Salvador Allende's Chile regime was submitted to the Nixon administration last October. Put forward by the giant Telephone International and Telegraph Corporation

(ITT),

had big interests in the which country, it called for economic warfare subversion of the and Chilean armed forces. The outline of the plan was contained in a memorandum which came into the hands of 'The New York Times'. • It was said to have been written by ITT's vice-president in charge of Washington relations addressed to Nixon's interna- economic affairs adviser, tional Peter Peterson. an economic It suggested squeeze on Chile by a ban on imports such as copper and a prohibition of It was exports. sent two days after Chile had taken over the Chilean Telephone which was 70 per Co, cent owned by ITT. The memorandum said: "The nsive mood

BY OUR FOREIGN STAFF

The purpose of the rainmaking programme was said to be: and cloud Providing rain cover for South Vietnamese units infiltrating the north. Tailoring the weather to aid US bombing missions. • Diverting North Vietnamese men and materials from military muddied operations to keep roads and other lines of cum- munications open. 'Spoiling' North Vietnamese attacks in the south. primary objective was to A prolong the south west monsoon over Laos and North Vietnam which extends from May to October. interviews revealed that The cloud-seeding was first used by the CIA at Hué in 1963 and then again in Saigon a year later.

The system was extended to the Ho Chi Minh trail in the middle 1960s and the US airforce officially adopted cloud-seeding Chile situation warrants high by the administration priority that and everything should be done quietly, but effectively to see that Allende does not get through the crucial next six months. It suggested that after the pro- created chaos, posed measures PRESIDENT BHUTTO of Paki- stan thanked the United States and the Soviet Union for their interest in and support for his Simla talks with Mrs Indira Gandhi. He told a cheering at Rawalpindi that the crowd Indo-Pak agreement was a vic- tory for 'the principles of justice and fair play'. He said relations with China would not be affected.

FRENCH Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann flies to Peking today for talks with Chinese leaders. He is the first West European Foreign Minister to make an official visit since the victory of the Chinese Revolu- tion in 1949. The aim will be to step up co- the operation and follow up cordial relations established be- countries by the two tween General de Gaulle. The Maoists offered the largest at the late President's wreath funeral and were profuse in their praise for his statesmanship.

Peking sees the Pompidou regime as the champion of 'inde- pendence from the two super- powers. It is less pleased by French support for the European is which Security Conference Soviet the main ploy of the Union's "peaceful co-existence' diplomacy. Schumann and Chou are ex- pected to discuss the Vietnam war and the Middle-East situa- tion. France is also aiming to increase trade with China. If the talks go well Chou is expected to visit to Paris make return a within the next 18 months.

as a weapon of war in 1967.

North Vietnam said yesterday that the US had laid new mines across the entrance to Haiphong Meanwhile American harbour. bombers pounded targets near Hué and at Quang Tri. Heavy fighting was reported from around Quang Tri city, where more than 6,000 South and para- Vietnamese marines troops are within one mile of the suburbs. kept up North Vietnamese artillery and rocket fire at Hué yesterday, but no ground troops were reported in action. The 24-year-old South Viet- namese student who attempted to hijack a Pan American air- lines jumbo jet said in a letter to President Nixon posted the day before he was shot dead: If I get killed, millions of Vietnamese will replace me until we end this inhuman, immoral war. I am resolved to struggle by means against any foreign all aggressors who invade Vietnam; it is now the American invaders.'

the Chilean armed forces, backed by the

CIA,

could take over power. Columnist Jack Anderson revealed earlier this that year

ITT

had discussed with the White House measures to pre- assuming vent Allende power after his election. JAPANESE seamen will be a major problem facing the new prime minister when he takes over today. The seamen's union conducting a 12-week-old strike is holding out for a wage increase of over £17 a month and has turned down an offer which just fell short of this demand. It also wants better working conditions, including shorter hours. The strike is now hitting many sectors of the Japanese economy.

About 1,200 ships are tied up, blocking both import and export trade.

YOUNG SOCIALISTS' REGIONAL RIGHT-TO-WORK CAMPAIGN

Coventry trade unionists to build Council of Action

BURY MONDAY

FROM STEPHEN JOHNS ON

THE

MANCHESTER - LIVER-

POOL MARCH

THE MARCH is get- ting into its stride and morale is high-even though we're cam- paigning in drizzling rain. The day began well with a quick visit to the Oldham factory of Mather Platts.

The 900 workers there were back off just their two weeks' annual holiday. Convenor Eddie Holland promised to call a meeting of works committee and raise a donation. But the climax of the day at Langley-a huge Came overspill estate for Manchester.

The marchers got a great reception from the tenants scores of local youth and followed it to the edge of the scheme. Nearly 100 Workers were sold and £2.50 Press collected. Later in Bury the cam- paigners aimed their main appeal to building Young Socialist branches and a good public meeting was held at night with the Bury youth.

Our thanks to Mr Bramah, AUEW district. secretary for his £5 donation. the first Earlier we saw stretch of countryside-about half a mile of moorland sand- wiched between Langley and Heyward. But for the most part we campaigned in the endless mill-town streets of the North West. When we came over the Bury Heyward, hill past appeared almost lost in the mist and drizzle, only the great black hulking mills rose up out of the gloom. The town was founded on cotton and paper. The first masters to come to this damp and inhospitable moorland, north of Man- eight miles chester, were the Peel family.

They exploited the deep and powerful rivers, the Irwell and soon the valley the Roch and was dotted with the dark mills.

They founded their empire on dying and printing cloth and 'borrowing' ideas later-after from Sir Richard Arkwright— on textile manufacture itself.

The Peels (whose offspring included Sir Robert, architect of the police force) turned the two rivers stinking black.

riches were The textile based on slave labour. Local families were held under con- tract to the milis—a family of boys and especially girls was prized because the cotton magnates valued female labour above all. The other source of orofit was the parish children bought by the mill owners 1r centres like Birmingham and London, then shipped by the cart-load to the North West. These defenceless orphans merciless exploit- underwent ation in the lonely mills of Bury, Bolton and the other cotton towns. This is history-but in towns like Bury it is impossible to get away from history. Even in its physical appearance the still dominated community is by the 19th and 18th century- many of the same mills still stand and are in use. While the working class is deeply marked by past still harrowing experiences. There is a great prejudice still against female labour. In one way the experiences of the past bad broke up the working class and destroyed the little com- munity they had. Eventually this produced a sort of con- servatism (Bury has a Tory primarily MP) based on a fatal acceptance of exploit- ation. The reverse of this is an class identity overpowering and solidarity. And old troubles are begin- ning again. Both the textile and the paper industry are in their biggest slump since the affects the 1930s. This also allied engineering industry.

The Bury president of the Chamber of Commerce warned recently: 'Profits, unemployment, in- unrest, inflation and dustrial competition have all reared il Youth from the area join the YS Right.

their heads to a higher degree that I personally, in the whole experience of my industrial life, have ever before experi- enced.' The three big industries have all suffered from slump.

The Chamber of Commerce yearly verdict on textiles is: A PUBLIC meeting called by Coventry Trades Council has passed overwhelmingly a re- solution to build a Council of Action. The resolution passed at Monday night's meeting to dis- unemployment in the cuss area states: This meeting requests that the trades council set up, in conjunction with district com- mittees of unions, a Council of Action. This is to be composed representatives from shop of stewards committees, trade union branches, tenants associations, unemployed, the Labour and Labour League Party, Socialist socialist all working-class and parties and groups; to be united struggle against the in Tory government and to carry out the trade council's policy of : (1) Recall the TUC to reaffirm total opposition to the Indus- trial Relations Act and the Relations National Industrial Court. (2) Expulsion of all who collab- orate with the NIRC. (3) For the TUC to prepare for General Strike to force the Tories out. (4) For the election of a Labour government that must carry out socialist policies, restore full em- ployment, and immediately repeal the Industrial Relations Act. The meeting also resolved to deputation to Tuesday send a evening's meeting of the Amal- Union of Engineering gamated Workers' district committee and called on everyone to fight for the Council of Action in their unions and factories. The meeting of some 50 people, passed the resolution after having been addressed by four promi- nent members of the labour movement.

AUEW

district committee member Harry Finch demanded YS Right-1o-Work march as It passes on its way !

'Concern was expressed for the future, but the depth of the present depression was never anticipated.' "Almost every member of our association experienced short-time working and weeks when mills have been running full time they have straight-talking about some where the labour movement was and what it must do. He spoke of the bankruptcy of reformist methods of trying to keep jobs, in the midst of a chronic world economic crisis that made the present level of 1 million un- employed look like a storm in a teacup. He said: Every day the Tory government remains in power means enormous dangers for the working class. They cannot save unless they break their system the power of the working class.

"The trade union leaders who do the dirty work for the Tory government inside the labour must be removed. movement That means the only way workers can go forward is with Councils of Action to organize resistance to the Tory attacks, force the -227.

BOOKS • PERIO

Workers Press, V n its way to Bury. rarely been able to run at full capacity! On paper: 'Not since the mid-1930s has the paper and industry experienced board such depressed market con- ditions as those of 1971. It "World to quote the was, Paper Trade Review", a year Tories to resign, and move to- ward the taking of power.'

Labour candidate Prospective for Coventry SW, Mrs : Audrey Wise, thought she had a more radical critique to make.

'We need a Labour government which tries to link hands with workers instead of betraying them. 'I shall unreservedly oppose the next Labour government if it tries to run capitalism like the last one? She called on the trade union agitate for movement to a national ban on overtime. As for the demand for the right to work 'this slogan upsets me: I agree with it only up to a point.'

Bill Warman, Communist Party executive member and the district secretary of the sheet metal workers' union condemned

• S/SSR5

@ PERIODICALS

• NEWSPAPERS

• Press, Wednesday July 5, 1972 PAGE 3 the industry wants to forget.'

On engineering (which is directly tied to plant pro- duction for the paper industry and textile manufacture: 'Un- employment showed an un- precedented rise and new orders were significantly lower.

It seems doubtful whether any possible recovery in trade will be sufficient to completely restore previous levels of em- ployment and certainly our share of the exports field can only be restored if our com- relative petitive position is im- competition overseas proved.' i openly recogn Be tham plotiers The • crisis is just a localized version of an international slump in the level of business activity. In Bury it causes the highest unemployment since the 1930s in January when 984 people were unemployed. The figure was only slightly better in May, when 930 were on the dole with 165 vacancies in the area. Worse is likely to come. The textile industry has been temporarily reprieved. The government has extended the import quotas on cheap foreign supplies to the end of this year. But in 1973, in prepar- ation for the Common Market, they will come off. Then this of British decrepit sector capitalism faces virtual extinc- tion-only the giants like Courtauld's possibly can survive the competition from abroad. This, of course, will have a ripple effect throughout the engineering industry-for Bury the Common Market will mean a return of the 1930s. Paper too is in crisis. The Scandinavian supplies vastly undercut the British products and again the Common Market a threat. If the EFTA DOseS block is allowed in on equal terms the British paper miller will also be decimated by Norwegian im- and Swedish ports. the 'shameless betrayal' of the TUC General Council. 'It is something we cannot stand for', he said. Of UCS steward James Airlie's speech the congratulatory to Tory government last Friday, he said: It is not a statement I would care to support.' While speaking of the 'general crisis of capitalism' he thought the immediate issues were those increasing of and wages shorter working week. In the discussion which fol- lowed, many speakers expressed the support of their branches and factories for the formation of a Council of Action, and further demanded to know why the previous calls for such a council had been bureaucratically ignored chairman by trades council McClusky.

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.

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Wednesday July

BY PETER JEFFRIES

Chancellor of the Exchequer Anthony Bar- ber's decision to 'float' the £ represents a new and decisive stage in capi- talism's economic and political crisis. It marks the opening of a period which could see the rapid disintegration of the world monetary and credit system. The Stalinists of the Com- munist Party and reformists the claim that devaluation decision is purely a British question, the result of Tory 'mismanagement. It is nothing of the sort. For it reflects and has already seriously intensi- fied the international crisis of imperialism. As many leaders of financial opinion have noted, it calls into question the entire structure of currencies and credit in the western world. There can be no 'national' reformist solutions to such a crisis. It is one that demands from the next Labour govern- ment the immediate implemen- tation of a socialist pro- gramme. Otherwise the jobs and future of millions of workers and their families are in jeopardy. The decision to float has to be seen in the light of the Nixon measures of August 15 last year. What was the fun- damental feature of these announcements? They marked the end of the Bretton Woods agreements which for 27 years, from 1944 onwards, had regu- lated the capitalist world's financial and trade system.

Last August, when the US President announced that the link between gold and the dol- broken, he was lar was announcing in effect the open- ing of a period in which the for world markets struggle intensify would enormously and in which sections of Euro- capitalism and Japanese pean plunged into inso- would be luble crisis. At their 1944 talks, the capi- talists decided that in future principles should two basic regulate their dealings. • All currencies should be linked to the dollar, which in turn should be linked to gold, at a fixed rate of exchange, $35 to an ounce of gold. • A system of 'fixed parities' should be established between all the leading currencies. The value of each currency was established in terms of the dollar and could fluctuate only around narrow limits. Any change in the value of a cur- rency had to be sanctioned by International Monetary the Fund (IMF) which acted as 'policeman' in the system.

The aim of these provisions —now gone forever-was to establish some degree of order and regulation in a system asday July 5, 1972 which in the 1930s had col- lapsed into anarchy. But as we shall see, it was an aim which could never be realized. The contradictory laws of capitalism continued to operate and have now forcibly asserted themselves in the pre- sent crisis. All those revisionists, like Mandel and the Pabloites, who 'new capitalism' spoke of a wanted to deny the existence of these contradictions. Lack- ing all faith in the revolution- ary potential of the working the big capitalist class countries, they deserted Trotskyism and confined their attention to the campaign for "structural reforms'. But, despite what the revi- sionists said, far from being a reflection of their strength, the Bretton Woods arrangements.

weak- indicated the profound ness of the ruling class in the face of a confident and deter- mined working class. For what Bretton Woods implied was that capitalism would buy time through infla- tionary policies. And this has been the post-war pattern. In order to keep its system buoy- ant and maintain the level of the capitalist employmment, class was forced to resort to the printing press. Over the last 25 years, every major capitalist country, but particularly America, has accu- mulated vast budget deficits.

These have pumped billions of doilars of purchasing power with no into the system, equivalent goods against which his paper money circulated.

Marxists have always recog- nized that inflation was an eco- nomic question, and not a tech- nical matter. The decline in the purchasing power of the dollar and of every leading currency has : been a reflection of class forces. And if every banker is now demanding an end to in- flation, he is recognizing that a fundamental shift in these relations must take place in favour of the employing class.

which the The measures Nixon Administration were forced to take last August the outcome of these were inflationary pressures which had been operating since the end of the war. What form did they take? They appeared as a grow- ing external deficit by the American economy with the rest of the capitalist world. And only last week it was announced that this deficit is expected to amount to over $4,000m for the current year alone. In the period to the end of the 1950s such deficits did not matter: they were supported by the vast Ame- rican gold holding which in period the early post-war emounted to over $30 billion.

Indeed, without the outflow American money in the of period—in the form of Marshall Aid and defence ex- penditures as well as consi- em derable export of capital by of the American corporations- large of sectors European capitalism would have collapsed after the war. By about 1959 this situation began to change. decisively.

Due to expenditures on the Korean war and the large out- low of private capital, the volume of dollars in the hands of foreign governments began to outstrip America's seriously diminished gold reserves.

It was from this point onwards that speculation against the dollar began to mount and it became a suspect currency.

The initial the response of American ruling class was to put the squeeze on the colonial and semi-colonial countries, as well as intensify the attacks on the American unions. Under Kennedy, the aid pro- gramme was slashed and some restrictions placed upon the export of capital. But despite the crisis even these limited produced in the measures and semi-colonial colonial countries, they were totally inadequate to meet the depth of the situation. The next stage in the crisis was centred on Britain. Com- ing to power in October, 1964, the Wilson government inheri- ted an £800m balance of pay- ments deficit, the result of pre- election Tory inflationary poli- cies. Immediately the £ was under Americans The pressure. realized that an attack on ster- ling would rapidly expose the dollar's growing vulnerability.

For three years, to the end of 1967, the US tried desperately to support the f. It was an indication of its fundamentally weakened position that its attempts were defeated. In November 1967, sterling was forced to devalue by 14 per cent. American fears were fully realized. Within a few weeks the dollar was at the centre by of the biggest monetary crisis Top: Henry Morgenthau and J. M. Keyr Above: Wilson-the devaluation by the meant the defeat of US attempts to suj since the war. Lacking all con- fidence in its value, specula- tors rushed for gold. By March 1968 Washington was driven to suspend con- vertibility of dollar. In the future only 'official' (govern- ment) holders of dollars would be allowed to exchange their holdings into gold at the established $35 an ounce rate.

This system was what became known as the 'two-tier' gold system. Washington also tried to slow up the crisis through the creation of Special Drawing J. M. Keynes at Bretton Woods in 1944.

on by the Labour government In 1967 pts to support the f. Rights (SDR) issued by the International Monetary Fund and meant to be a substitute for the dollar. But as the Americans knew 'remedies' fully well, such were of an extremely short-run nature. Nothing had been re- solved. Gold remained the basis of the system. When the next stage of the crisis reached its peak—in August 1971—it was to do so in a much sharper and more malignant form.

CONTINUED

TOMORROW

Above : member of the Tchikao tribe nated with the compliance and direct co Where the lush Brazilian jugle led down to a river an Indian girl sat on the bank nursing a child on her breast. A group of white men sud- denly appeared out of the trees on the other side and waded across to her calling to her not to be afraid and smiling. Then one of them blew off the child's head with a shot- gun blast while the others tied the mother upside down by her legs to two trees, slashed open her stomach and abdo- men with machetes and left her to die. Earlier the seven-man expe- dition came across an Indian village and without warning massacred the entire popula- tion using machine guns, shot- guns and revolvers. Above: a member of the Tchikao tribe of Brazilian Indians, which have been systematically almost extermi- nated with the compliance and direct connivance of glant US corporations and the Brazilian government.

AMAZON TRIBES

EXTERMINATED

Meanwhile planes bom- barded Villages will dynamite or dropped poisoned food. Nine after the years Cintas Largas massacres the trekked tribesmen through northern the jungle the to Brazilian of Cuiaba to

LOWI

denounce the authors of these So far only who one man 'Indian participated hunt' has been arrested. Brazil has become the prin- cipal recipient for US capital in South America. Successive Brazilian govern- ments have openly connived the ruthless tactics em- at US cor- ployed by the giant to cear the Indians off valuable land and mineral resources. The judge in the trial of one of the 'hunters', Ramiro Costa, have been systematically almost extermt rations and the Brazilian government.

which has just opened in Cuiaba, said: 'We have never listened to a case where there was so violence, much much SO ignominy, so much lack of love for one's neighbour, egoism and savagery and so much de- preciation for human life.'

. He is almost certainly sin- cere. Very few if any cases have been heard in the courts the against conglomerate's human-hunters. And it is doubtful if many of the inmates of Brazil's notorious prisons have a chance to tell of the savage barbarity of the conditions of their detention. Not only could everything the judge said of the Indian hunters be said of his own government, but that govern- ment is the principal author of the Indians' extermination.

Workers Press, Wednesday July 5, 1972 PAGE 5 Mozambique African People's Union guerrillas

(ZAPU)

operated mainly in are increasingly operating the area south of the Zambesi the border - in River border with Zambia.

across The change has come about Rhodesia. because FRELIMO now con- And the white supremacist thousands of trols square in Salisbury is government miles of territory around the desperately afraid that after giant Cabora Bassa dam being the tailure of a settlement built by the Portuguese on Britain, Rhodesian with the Zambesi 100 miles from nationalist groups will link up Rhodesia's eastern border.

the Mozambique free- with The dam will eventually dom-lighters. supply_ power to South Africa trade road through A vital Rhodesia, well and as as Mozambique linking Rhodesia Mozambique. been mined with Malawi has Rhodesia's eastern flank has so often that transport vehicles become its tensest mili- now can only travel in military tary area and military activity convoy and even then they are has been largely switched there at risk. from the frontier with Zambia.

The Zimbabwe African New roads and airstrips Nationalist Union (ZANU) is have built and the been guerrilla reported to liaise closely with threat has escalated the to the point where Ian Smith's

FRELIMO

(Front for Liberation of Mozambique). law and - order minister Until FRELIMO stepped up Andrew Flemming has drawn in Mozambique, the most its activities attention to as

ZANU

and the Zimbabwe dangerous facing the country.

17 Delegates from foreign the signing of a durable peace and the Arab Communist Parties attended between Israel countries on the basis of the the Congress of the pro-Soviet United Nations Security Coun- Israeli Party in Communist cil resolution of November 22, Jerusalem last week. They in- 1967. cluded Constantin Grichine a Israeli accusing While the member of the Central Com- of aggression in government mittee of the CPSU. the June war, the party aiso denounced what it called the The party, which is mainly errors of Arab extremists who Arab in its following, has Israeli three deputies in aided Israel to out its the carry parliament. Reflecting Soviet plans against the Arab people influence, the party called for of Palestine. Californian which traditionally have state labour com- George Milias has allowed children to work in missioner announced a large-scale crack- the harvests. illegal of 'We want to put an end to down on the use the illegal children child labour in California's use once and for all,' he said.

vineyards and fields. to emphasize the want Concentrated attack will be on the abuse of hits children. We are not opposed to kids working legally. Employers turn a blind eye In California a child may to the children, but in return work from the age of 12 pro- they often put a whole tamily viding he has obtained a work under a single social security permit from school officials.

number and a total pay check obscures the fact that mini- Increased mum wage scales are not being income paid. Milias said there were 'con- The of illegal child use siderable numbers' of children labour usually when occurs less than 12-years-old working entire families harvest crops during the harvest at a piecerate and young chil- season, usually as part of family units.

dren are brought into the fields He said the exact scope of the by their order parents in to increase the family's income.

problem is unknown. Special six-man teams of in- State labour investigators formed, vestigators are being estimate that 30 per up to Milias said. They will cent of the workers harvesting soon make what he called 'concen- such crops as raisin grapes are trated hits' on farming areas children under 12 years old.

Two years ago it was dis- The United States supreme court has ruled that the army covered that army intelligence agents posing as civilians were need not expose in open court informa- routinely gathering the workings of its apparatus tion and taking photographs at for surveillance of civilians.

public meetings. Four judges Washington The case was taken before concluded it was 'not a matter the courts by anti-war and for the courts to handle'.

civil rights groups.

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Hednesday Juty 5, 1972 On at least two occasions in the period 1917 to 1920 the Russian Revolution inspired British workers to form workers' committees as organs to defend their conditions and overthrow This series by Alan Clinton and George the capitalist order. Myers (reprinted from Fourth International', November 1967) examines the building of these committees, the 1917 'Councils of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates' and the 'Councils of Action' in 1920. 'At the present had been overthrown, rushing moment • it is the Russian history. another the all model that reveals streets with tears streaming down shaking countries something and their cheeks, "At last it something highly significant— hands and saying: and inevitable has happened" ... the revolu- of their near 1917 Lenin 1920' tion of came to the future.' in working class of Great Britain not as a disaster, but as one I remember well what SO the emancipating Russian happened when the most events in the history of man- Revolution occurred. re- kind' member the miners when they Aneurin Bevan in 1951? heard that the Tsarist tyranny Workmen's and Soldiers' Dele- of The overthrow gates in 1917 and the Councils Tsardom in reactionary of Action 1920 in were in- of Russia, the seizure linked with the de- separablv fence of the Russian Revolu- power by the proletariat and mil- tion by thousands and the setting up of the of It lions British workers. first Soviet Socialist Re- was a real proletarian inter- nationalism which brought public showed the work- into institutions existence ing class of the world, which could have heralded the and especially its revolu- beginning of a British revolu- tion. vanguard, that tionary The complex reasons for the workers' power could be of failure revolutionary pos- taken, and kept. this sibilities in Britain period to mature can be seen the nature It thus altered of workers' these The and perspective events. craven everywhere. The betrayals of the right wing in struggle of the Revolution in supporting their 'own' bourge- effect world- 1914, 1917 literally oisie in in joining the was Britain, government and in surrender- shattering, and in in other countries, the work- ing trade-union rights are well first ing class and the revolutionary known. The Imperialist War movement underwent complex could only have been carried on with the compliance changes in organization, of of the Hendersons and the theories and methods struggle. The theoretical de- Thomases. Less often realized the revolution- is the role of the centrists, velopment of of MacDonald and the response such as ary groups, Smillie, who talked of opposi- the bureaucracy and other aspects of the many-sided im- tion the war, but CO. pact of the Revolution require operated in the government's and subse- schemes for enlistment. separate treatment in for the direction and control quent articles. Here two bar- ticularly important episodes history of the British in the class the working in post- revolutionary years have been selected for attention. Lenin described the soviets as the greatest con- amongst tributions made by the Russian Revolution to the international working class. From the Paris Commune of 1871 the to Hungarian rising of 1956, all- workers' inclusive local com- have been vital mittees in the proletarian weapon struggle to defend its condi- the tions. and to overthrow capitalist order. In Britain such workers' have never reached the ad- vanced stage of develonment However, attained elsewhere. least in on two occasions at the period 1917-1920 workers' committees did spring up in The of Ramsay MacDonald Councils Britain. of labour. These men were in at the beginning of every revo- development lutionary to smother it and hand it over to the bourgeoisie. The role of revolutionaries, and especially of the British Socialist Party (BSP) was of central import- ance but of limited impact.

Their theoretical backward- ness, their idealist attitude to workers' struggles, their failure .. to fight for their own leader- ship, these meant they could not bring forward to a higher plane the revolutionary possi- in the bilities that existed period.

FROM

FEBRUARY

TOOCTOBER

1917 as the February soon revolution broke out there demonstrations and were meetings of support in Britain.

The first demonstration took place on March 24, within days of the news arriving. 7,000 people attended a meet- ing at the Memorial Hall, Mile End Road, sponsored with Russian refugee groups the support of the BSP, and the Women's Socialist Federation

(WSF).

'During the whole meeting again and again out- bursts of boundless enthusiasm filled the immense hall with unending applause and shouts.

The meeting also indicated its views on the further develop- ment of the revolution when it 'expressed its conviction that those who have at heart the cause of the workers and of in the labouring masses all Russia must rally around the Workers' Council of and Soldiers' Delegates for the successful achievement of the work of the revolution in the Republic of Russia'. There many more were meetings in the weeks that followed. For instance, over the weekend of March 31 to April 1 over 20,000 people expressed their solidarity with the revolution in meetings at the Albert Hall.* On May Day 70,000 demonstrators in Glas- gow called for 'the overthrow of capitalism and the estab- lishment of a co-operative commonwealth as the only solution to poverty and un- employment'. Thousands in Manchester cheered and applauded Robert Williams, of the Transport leader Workers' Federation, when he 'revolutions like said that charity begin at home'. In Liverpool 150 Russian sailors headed the demonstration and received a tumultuous recep- tion at the meeting afterwards.

In London nearly 50,000 marched in solidarity with the revolution, against conscrip- tion, for votes for all and for an immediate peace. Early in May a Convention summoned at Leeds to was commemorate the revolution. This was called by the United Socialist Council, body a formed in 1913 by the BSP and the Independent Labour Party • (ILP) after they had failed to amalgamate on the instruction of the International Socialist Bureau. On May 11 leaflet entitled it issued a 'Follow Russia', which de- of scribed the the purpose ascertain Conference *to as and the pronounce upon opinions of the working class of this country regarding the have developments which and are taking taken place, place in Russia', so that events would receive 'sympathetic re- sponse' making possible 'a real international peace based upon working class solidarity?® convention When the June 3 assembled on there were 1,150 delegates and 2,000 visitors.? Motions were passed the Russian Revolu- saluting tion, calling for a peace with- out annexations or indemni- ties', and demanding a com- plete restoration of civil liber- ties "in accord with the democracy of Russia'. The the Conference can mood of be judged from this quotation from the report, issued later by the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' of Delegates, Robert Williams' speech: 'We want to break the influence of the industrial and political "machine"-(cheers) labour and this Convention is our attempt so to do.. .. We are speak in the competent to name of our own class, and damn the Constitution. (Loud cheers.) ... If you are really sincere in sending greetings to Russia I say to you: "Go thou (cheers)' likewise" and Philip Snowden was rather put off by this enthusiasm. 'I had repeatedly to appeal to the delegates against applause as tending to waste of time,' he said afterwards.® The most significant event of the conference the was passing of a resolution which called upon the trades coun- cils, trade unions and political bodies represented 'at once to every town, urban, support in and rural district, Cousile of Workmen's Soldiers' Delegates for initiating and co- ordinating of working class activity in support of the poli- cies set out in the foregoing resolution (i.e. on civil liber- ties) and to work strenuously for a peace made by the peoples of the countries and for the complete political and economic emancipation of in- ternational labour' These Councils were to defend trade unionism, fight war profiteer- ing, and cater for the interests of soldiers and their depend- Finally, it was agreed ents. that the Convenors of this Conference be appointed a whose provisional committee, duties shall be to assist the formation of local Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils and generally to give effect to the policy determined by this conference.' The failure of the Conven- tion to produce many concrete results has often been asserted.

We hope to show, however, the conference was not that devoid of results. The reasons for the failure to achieve more were present at the Convention dominated by ced its ere ILP represented the basic poli- tical section of the Labour Party in the period before its reorganization in 1918. cause of its verbal opposition to the policies of the right wing; the ILP attracted into its ranks many working class mili- The leadership of the tants. party had, however, no in- tention of leading any struggle against the right wing. Whilst in Willing to indulge left speeches at Leeds men such as MacDonald, Henderson and Snowden were capable only of servants to the right being wing. Snowden, who spoke at Leeds for a peace without indemnities' annexations or and supported all the other resolutions, explained later his real hostility to what had hap- pened. 'It may be, I do not rule it out of theoretical con- sideration, that Workers' and Soldiers' or Soviets Councils may come to Britain but I am for Socialism coming through parliament and no other way."

It is not just a matter, as Pabloite Ken Coates argues, May Day 1917—above: celebra tions in Moscow. Similar demon- strations in solidarity with Russian took place workers over Europe. 70,000 demonstrated in Russian sailors led Glasgow, Liverpool marchers in while in 50,000 workers took to London the streets 'that Parliamentarians the balance. "0 off were caught They fulfilled a definite role in riding the tiger only to kill it. As early as July 5 the ILP leaders warned against the danger that local councils might become rival organiza- to the ILP branches tions means of rather than co- existing operating between political groups." This was despite such statements as that of Tom Qulech, a member of Provisional Committee,. the who said that 'some of the • would be older bodies nervous lest their functions are being infringed upon-and no effort must be spared to con- • that the Work- vince them men's and Soldiers' Councils are bodies whose purpose it is to strengthen and coalesce all working-class organiza- other tions'" The Provisional Committee arranged a series of regional conferences in late July and August. Amongst early functions of these was the establishment of Local Wor- kers' and Soldiers' Councils to campaign on the policies of the 'Convention.13 Included in the 441 delegates to the Lon- Workers Press, Wedner don Regional Conference were.

18 from Trade Union Execu- tives, 41 from Trades Coun- cils, 162 from Trade Union branches and three from Local Workers' and Soldiers' Coun- Cils. The Conference was broken up by a collection of army officers from Canada and Australia, who said they were 'acting under orders from their superiors, with the aid of all those 'patriots' who could be enlisted from the local public houses. This caused 'the worst riot London has seen for years' according to one eye-witness, a riot which was carried on with no interference from the 200 policemen present. The South Wales Conference in Swansea on the same day with Trade Union Branch Delegates and 26 from Trade Councils met with a similar fate, did the Newcastle as meeting." The Glasgow Con- ference, planned for August Il, at which E. C. Fairchild, of the BSP, and Ramsay Mac- Donald of the ILP were to banned by speak, the was Secretary of State for Scotland on August 10 because 'grave disorder' was expected. Within 24 hours the Glasgow Trades Council organized a protest demonstration of more than Conferences Home Secretaryl Conferences were, however, held in other cities. In Portsmouth a meet- ing was addressed by Mrs Despard, and at Bristol 100 organizations were represented including seven Trades Coun- and Cils 37 Trade Union branches. Further meetings were held in Leicester, in Nor- wich, where 10,000 workers were represented, and in Man- chester, where the 226 dele- gates scotched the efforts of another group of army officers to break up the meeting."

THE RUSSIAN

PATH

From the regional confer- ences a national committee was elected and a list of objects drawn up which em- phasized the policies already agreed. It set forward the aims of the Council as: 'The con- solidation of the efforts of all working class organizations to obtain an ever-increasing share in the wealth produced by the labour of hand and brain to- with control over in- gether dustry."8 mid-August After the Councils were ignored by the ILP, and the Labour Party leaders actively opposed them.

On July 18 the Labour Party National Executive stated that it has nothing to do with the Leeds Convention, and that in our opinion no local organiza- tion affiliated to Party the ought to convene Conferences which are not in harmony with policy of the thé general Party as laid down at its Annual Conferences.'9 Against this, the BSP cam- paigned vigorously for the decisions of Leeds. Before the Convention itself, the Party set out a correct perspective for its work: 'After the Leeds Conference ... comes the task of setting the whole working- deliberately movement class and determinedly on the path so splendidly laid down by our the comrades Russian •.. will gladly co- workers operate in forming the Work- men's and Soldiers' Councils but the initiatory work, the leading organizing and the must be done by the Social- Democrats. ... (The Councils) become will strong soon enough to dominate the towns and determine and districts their future. However, the BSP's failure to understand the role of the centrist leaders of the ILP meant that it never against analysed or fought them. At the end of the year Willie Gallagher, a member of the BSP, voiced the bemuse- ment of the party at the limited results of the Conven- tion. 'When the Leeds Con- was convened', he ference rkers Press, Wednesday July 5, 1972 PAGE 7 wrote, 'great hopes were held of the work to be accom- plished by the committees set up all over the country. Un- fortunately this very promising organization has apparently expended all its vitality in the issuing of a few political mani- festoes. Despite this failure to understand what had hap-.

pened, the events of the Leeds Convention helped the devel- opment of the BSP away from a position where it had sought amalgamation with the ILP to- wards one of opposition to centrism and opportunism.

The Leeds Convention also gave enormous impetus to the shop stewards movement. Many of the leading shop stewards were at Leeds, in- cluding : Gallagher and Mac- Manus from the Clyde, Murphy from Sheffield and Peet from Manchester. They reacted to establishment of Soviets with enthusiasm. They identi fied them, however, with their own syndicalist perspectives, the view of the reflecting Socialist Labour Party

(SLP)

in the that the Soviets were nature of the Clyde Workers' Committee'" Unlike such sec- tional workers' committees, however, the Soviets were all- inclusive class organizations. Despite this lack of under- standing it was clear that the shop stewards movement gained much encouragement from the Russian example and through it decided to set up a national movement. As J. T.

Murphy later expressed it, the shop stewards felt their kin- ship with soviets'.2 Two months after the Leeds Convention the shop stewards made their first attempt to establish a national organiza- conference in tion at their Manchester. The constitution they established, however, re- flected anti-leadership theories prevalent in the move- ment and gave no executive any of its ruling powers to committees.23 The impact of Leeds nevertheless produced an important change in the shop stewards movement. Its support for the soviets rapidly developed towards an identi- fication with Bolshevism and the effect of the October re- volution was to lay the basis for the movement to become the industrial wing of the Communist Party.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

1 In Left Wing Communism, An Infantile Disorder (Collected Works, London, 1966, Vol. 31), 0. 22 2 Labour Party, Report of the Fiftieth Annual Conference (1951), p. 121. 3 Woman's Dreadnaught, March 31, 1917; the Herald, March 31, 1917. 1 e Hera de April 3, 1917; R April 5, 1917; the Herald Postgate, Life of George Lansbury (1951), pP. 165-169. 5 Labour Leader, May 10, 1917.

6 P. Snowden, An Autobiography (1934), Volume I, pp. 449-452.

7 Council of Warkmen's and Soldiers' Delegates What Happened at Leeds (1917); J.

T. Murphy, Labour's Big Three (1948), p. 47. 8 P. Snowden, op. cit., p. 445.

9 I. I. Murphy, New Horizons (1941), p. 62. 10 See his introduction to What Happened at Leeds in Archives in Trade Union History and Theory, Series I. No. 4. p.

iii. 11 Editorial in Labour Leader.

12 The Call, June 21, 1917.

13 Labour Leader, July 12, 1967.

1917; The Ibid., August Times, July 30, Mail, July 30, 1917; Parliament- ary Debates-House of Commons (5) XCVI, cols. 1784-1788, 1790- 1792. 15 The Times, August 10 and 14, 1917; Labour Leader, August 16, 1917. 16 The Times, July 16 and 23, 1917. and August 22, 17 Labour Leader, August 9 and 16, 1917. 18 The Call, October 4 and 25, 1917. 19 Leeds Citizen, July 21, 1917.

31 and Decem- 20 The Call, May ber 28, 1917. 21 The Socialist, April 1917.

Power 1, p. 152. Preparing for Wal Hannington, Industrial - History in Wartime (1940), pp.

105-106.

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Wednesday July The sixth part of a statem The workers' and peasants' government The crisis of world capitalism created a revolutionary situa- in Bolivia. For the tion bourgeoisie there was no margin for concession-hence their need for dictatorship.

Quite correctly the Trotsky- ists raised the question of the workers' and peasants' govern- ment. But what would be its revolution character? The could not have been anything And this but proletarian. revolution would have created the workers' and peasants' government. The POR leaders should have made a clear analysis of the revolution-and clarified the character of such a govern- ment. All the more, since by sup- porting the programme of the trade unions • into which the Stalinists had introduced the strategy of the bourgeois- democratic revolution, they should have separated their position on this strategy.

the Trotskyists, For the establishment of the workers' and peasants' government was synonymous with the dictator- Its of the proletariat. meaning was adulterated by the Pabloites on their slippery road of opportunism. They gave it the meaning of an in- termediate government — be- tween the bourgeois and prole- tarian powers — a sort of Stalinist version of the 'demo- cratic dictatorship of workers and peasants'-the product of an intermediate revolution.

We in Greece, during the events of July 1965, in sup- the workers' and porting peasants' government as pseudonym of the dictatorship of the proletariat, had to fight the Pabloite conception of the workers' and peasants' govern- intermediate ment as an government prior to the dic- tatorship of the proletariat.

However, in the same period, the formula of the 'workers' peasants' and government' of a bourgeois type crept into the line of the International Committee via of the Hungarian article an section printed without com- ment in 'La Verité'. How did this leap to the theory of the intermediate government come about? Was there perhaps a common logic between the old view of the section French the on 'workers' and peasants' govern- ment' of Castro and this adul- terated and peasants' government? Well, the French Organiza- tion Communiste International- iste has now come into the Information Ouvrières' open. of August 26, 1971, stood for 'a workers' and peasants' govern- ment of the united workers' organizations ... which would restore and broaden all demo- cratic liberties and secure the free struggle of the masses against the bourgeoisie and its state'. As for the workers' and government, in the peasants' sday July 5, 1972 statement by the Workers of Greece. of being synonymous sense with the dictatorship of the proletariat, it was regarded as being no more than the distant music of the future. That is all. A government of Stalinists and pseudo-socialists, who have proven throughout the world to be the shameless agents of the bourgeoisie and have passed over to open counter-revolution, was sup- posed to restore liberties and assist the struggle of the masses to overthrow capital- ism! Trotsky: author of 'Transitional Programme'. renegation from the This dictatorship of the proletariat in the epoch of the death agony of capitalism, when the question of had power appeared on the agenda, created terrible illusions, just like those of the Pabloites about the self-democratization of the bureaucracy, revolutions led by the CP, etc. The tactic of 'breaking with the bourgeoisie which accord- ing to the Transitional Pro- gramme, we can and must de- mand from the parties of be- trayal does not, in any cir- cumstances, mean that agita- tion for revolution and for a real workers' and peasants' government should be re- linquished. On the contrary, agitation for the revolution must not only not weaken: it is in fact —together with agitation for soviets-of decisive signifi- cance in a correct strategy for a workers' aiming and pe: sants government. On the other hand, the pro- cess of fighting for a pseudo- workers' and peasants' govern- ment presupposes replacement of the methodology of civil war with that of pacifism.

'Such a government must break from the bourgeoisie, call on the masses to organize in councils, organize workers' control in production, place all power in the hands of the councils and destroy the bourgeois state machine'! Hey presto! The parties of betrayal are turned into organs of revo- lution. This is really a cloud cuckoo land! When the Transitional Pro- gramme speaks of 'a workers' and peasants' government' as an 'exceptionally unlikely pos- sibility', as a 'brief stopping place on the road to the real dictatorship of the proletariat' it does not 'lend itself to pre- sumptions' so historically long- term and ambitious as those of our miracle workers. It stresses: 'Agitation around the slogan of the workers' and peasants' government retains in all conditions However, the bloc of the French, Hun- garian and Bolivian sections of the International Committee advance the slogan of the bourgeois workers' and peas- ants' government as a perman- ent central task of the period and subtract the agitation for soviets and for the revolution.

This 'workers' and peasants' government' means disorienta- tion from the conquest of power and, combined with the suppression of the slogan for soviets in favour of the Popu- lar Assembly is tantamount to a refusal on our part to go further than the bourgeois- democratic limits in the spirit of the Permanent Revolution, and adoption on our part of the Stalinist-Menshevik theory and taking the stages 'Chilean' parliamentary road to socialism (like Pablo). 'Reality does not excuse even a single theoretical error.

And yet we see here the dis- tortion of the tactic of the United Front which leads to the government of the United Front and from which we ex- pect an impetus to the revolu- tionary struggle-thus weaken- ing its ability to undermine the treacherous leaders. Here we must also note the underesti- mation on principle of the sig- nificance of an alliance with the poor layers of the country- side. It is no accident that the slogans for soviets and for a workers' and peasants' govern- ment were absent from the programme of the French organization during the May- June days in 1968. Not only because the over-ripe and situation over - revolutionary was most criminally under- Top: the labelling of a government su and Peasants' Government' disorients th power. Above : likewise Allende's parlian the revolution within bourgeois-democrat estimated (opportunism is used to under-estimating the revo- lutionary upsurge and over- estimating resilience of , the capitalism), but also because they were disorientated from the basic tasks of the move- ment which could be summed up as: 'Down with de Gaulle!

Long live the workers' and peasants' government!' From this standpoint the position of the French in 1968 was to the right of the Bolivian organization in 1971.

In conclusion, in Bolivia, as elsewhere, must struggle we for in which the soviets, masses would recognize the organ of leadership which a 'Workers' nment such as Castro's as orients the masses from the conquest of e's parliamentary road to socialism holds -democratic limits. strikes decisively for power and for a real workers' and peasants' government. "The organization of soviets', Lenin stresses in his draft for the dissolution of the Con- stituent Assembly, 'is the only one able to lead the struggle of the class for its total politi- cal and economic liberation' The only one. We have no need of illegiti- 'Popular Assemblies of mate a soviet type' which were sup- ported not only by Lechin, Allende, the Stalinists and the Pabloites, but also the reno- vators' of the soviets of 'In- formations Ouvrières' Greece, December 26, 1971.

THE CRITICS SILENCE

Bentley (loit), acroes the broakfast tabl

TV REVIEW

Last Thursday the real face of British capitalism today was shown for 30 minutes on television screens all over the country. But it promptly dropped out out of the picture for all the radical and left-wing TV critics-including that of the Communist Party's 'Morning Star'. For that reason alone it's worth recalling some of the highlights of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?", a Thames profile of 32-year-old TV finance entrepreneur John Bentley. Bentley recently carved up his toy empire, making a sizeable profit for himself and throwing a large proportion of its labour force out of their jobs. This week 1,500 men and women from the Triang fac- tory at Merton, South London, face a future without work.

The Triang deal and its pre- decessors established Bentley and his company, Barclay Se- curities, as the foremost asset- strippers in the City of Lon- don. Bentley himself has acquired a personal fortune of £2m to £3m. Asset-stripping is just about the most parasitic technique available to dying capitalism.

It involves feeding off the bodies of ailing companies: centralizing and speeding up production, slashing the labour force and seiling off surplus assets, buildings and machin- ery at a handsome profit.

The Thames profile-from the This Week' stable-set out to probe the philosophy behind the technique. What probing there was was extremely gentle. Most questions Bentley • was asked concerned whether he felt anything for the people who had lost their jobs. Of course, he said. But 1 can't let it interfere with my business judgement. In fact it's a positive advantage not to be emotionally involved.

aklast table from Frank Goss, furnituro trades c The programme opened with Bentley playing squash. Then we saw him driving his Aston-Martin and then lounging in his plush offices.

As a contrast there were brief interviews with some of the Triang workers. Later Frank Goss, the furniture trades convenor at Merton, con- fronted Bentley across his breakfast table. Educated at Harrow, Bent- ley went into the City at 17.

His first coup was to team up with Jim Slater, head of Slater Walker Securities, in a share deal over Scottish Life Assurance. They doubled their and Bentley bought money drug distributors Barclay and Sons. His first asset-stripping operation was at Dorland's ad- vertising agency-raking £2m into the coffers. Then came the acquisition of the Mobo toy firm at Erith, Kent, whose 480 workers in- creased production in the six months after Bentley bought it to turn a previous-year loss of £98,000 into a profit of £ 100,000. Their reward was the sack.

Bentley had also bought Triang at Merton and Merthyr Tydfil, but the Merton fac- was underused tory and so Erith was closed and produc- tion transferred. The closure of Merton gives Bentley a nicely-concentrated toy factory in the high-unem- ployment of Merthyr area Tydfil and two London area factory sites available for re- development. A big danger of this presen- however, tation, that was Bentley appeared as some special phenomenon. With the aid of just about every documentary chiché in book (maps, diagrams, cash-register bells and the like), the director hammered home the message that he was a financial genius who is shattering the traditional atti- tudes of British industry'.

We were told that while at Harrow he once considered Communist joining the Party. › trados convenor at Trianga, Merton.

Whether fact or a piece of public-relations footwork to sugar his current activities, the comment is interesting. Bentley later expressed. certain disgust with those he mei at Harrow and then in the City who felt they had what he called 'a basic right to privileges. He talked about his asset- stripping operations as if they were altruistic crusades against 'wastage of •.. effort, talent, money, available space, every- thing'. Across the breakfast-table from Frank Goss, Bentley en- thusiastically developed the chauvinist strands of his philo- sophy. The economic difficulties of the country, he said, showed that unless British industry was made more efficient 'some other country will smash us'.

(This sequence was filmed the day after the Tories' sterling float.) 'That's why we've got de- valuation', he said. 'Every to read newspaper you care will tell you the reason for this is that other countries are worried by the tremendous rise in inflation and the high level of wage settlements in the country.' Here, of course, we see the individualistic expla- nation break down; Bentley's attitudes be tradi- may not tional, but they are the only possible for the capitalist ones class today. 'Who Wants To Be A Mil- lionaire?' also consistently tended to belittle the Merton workers. 'The men who make toys are not like the men who build ships', said the narrator in a particularly offensive reference to the death of a possible UCS-style occupation. But Frank Goss gave the lie to the invidious comparison.

We tried to fight this as not professionals, amateurs We took on profes- he said. sionals as amateurs and got beaten. Next time anyone gets me in a clinch I'm going to . come out with my head down and my guard up? Workers Press, Wedneedey Jut E, 1972 PAGE 0 It's all a matter of unity. Com- Outside a Liverpool police munist Party and right-wing station gathered Labourite delegates to Brent recently. Was it to complain Trades Council put up a vigor- about police brutality or some- thing of the sort? ous opposition the other night to defeat a motion from Chis- Not at all, the placards wick No. 5 branch calling for stated firmly: our police a local Council of Action.

station open', 'Don't chop our The motion was unrealistic cop shop' and 'Hands off our police station', etc. and they said. premature, Speaker And who behind this after speaker talked was battle for law" and order? The about working-class apathy and National Front? Wrong again.

politics not being acceptable It was the branch to workers today, etc., etc.

Liverpool of the Liberal Party. But such unity can only go The Liberal News' reports so far. that the campaign is being led Stalinist Les Burt When by Cllr Doreen Jones and she began talking about unity with has been whipping up a peti- social democrats in the 'fair plead tion to with Reginald rents' Bill debate, it was just Maudling too much for Ald P. H. Hart- to retain the local police station. ley, Brent Labour group leader.

Especially when Burt men- tioned working-class unity On the against fascism in pre-war Ger- mary. As a youth in Germany, Ald Hartley been had social a democrat. A miserable rally against the reminded delegates French in 1932 there was a plebiscite nuclear tests was Prussian called last Sunday

CND.

Diet (parlia- The old stalwarts were there- ment) and the KPD (German Dick Nettleton and Pat Arrow- Communist Party) voted along- smith and, of course, the hair- side the Nazi Party and 'we net and blue were defeated'. stocking crowd The Stalinists, he explained from Party. the Communist "incorrect About 20 of them in all. political an The object was to condemn error of judgment' which the French testing in the south led millions to the gas cham- Pacific and then off to bers! march the French Embassy with the At a stroke, Stalinism was confronted Brent in traditional protest letter.

in 1972 What was astonishing, with a chapter of its own his- how- ever, was the fact to The Stalinists sat in silence.

that they used the platform of John Webster. Webster is one of the 'char- acters' of Speakers Corner. He.

beings his Sunday afternoon The legal brains at ICI think blurb declaration: with the 'My they have come up with the nare is Webster. I am against socialism. Hitler's vari- answer to meet the economic crisis. Now, all ety of Stalin's. Wilson's too.' transactions have Last Sunday an extra clause written he had the It says: in. 'All charges tourists rolling on the grass sub- ject to floatation rates.

with the comment: 'Workers With the fluctuating of the world unite. Workers of rates from hour to hour, the com- the world drop dead, more like it' puation of this figure on mil- lions of pounds worth of ex- A few minutes after this dia- port orders, should make great tribe the CND-ers were invited fun in the accounts depart- onto his platform to plead their ment. case. And they did just that.

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Fighting the Tories' Rent Bill West Bromwich won't implement rent rises Housing and capitalism PAGE 10 Workers Prosa, Wadnasday July 5, 1972 LABOUR GROUP councillors the London Borough of of were jubilant on Monday night Camden setting out resolutions after the West Bromwich, passed by his council. Staffs, town council agreed by The Housing Committee said they. had, consulted the a large majority not to imple the Tories' Housing West bromwich town clerk on ment Finance Bill. the penal sanctions laid down in the Bill if a council refused The council heard a report to implement it. These sanc- from the Housing Committee tions notwithstanding, the which said a letter had been committee recommended sup- received from the town clerk port for the London borough NATIONAL Union of Vehicle Builders' shop steward at the Rover car plant, Pete Smith, lives with his wife Sue and their two children on the vast Chelmsley Wood housing development, a Birmingham overspill. He talks here to Workers Press about the Tory 'fair rents' Bill in relation to the offensive against the working class and the sort of leader- ship required to lead a fight back. rent Bill 'With this they're of force trying to people out council houses into the hands of the building societies to be- come literally slaves of the capi- talist system. "They'll spend the rest of their lives paying off mortgages. It is which really arrogant policy of Powellism. His reeks strategy is total free enterprise all down the line.' Said Sue: 'I think the rent we Rover steward Pete Smith with his "fair" already; pay 1S enough but I feel the government will force even Labour councils to Bill, despite what implement the saying' Labour councillors are Her husband disagreed, how- ever. Once a real fight got going, he thought, a really good Labour council would not implement, re- gardless of the repercussions of we live in where you're treated the Housing Commissioner. factory fodder. just as gaffer 'A decent roof over your head looks after his better Sue machine everyone's right,' should be than his men.' 'When added. the first houses pointed At this Sue to: Wood an built on Chelmsley were 'Sunday Times' advert in the Labour council was under the 'Most would magazine. people rents were f4: They control and work better if you treated them went up to £6 under the Tories.

like machines,' ran the caption. 'And we lived here for two years before there were even any People are turned into shops opened. There was no in- by production, machines mass fants' school-infants and juniors Pete continued. 'But you can't were all put in the same one' eliminate that under capitalism. With reference to Birmingham Look at all the fuss over pollu- housing The have council's much-vaunted tion. middle class Pete "The suddenly found the motorway's programme, says: council says we've housed every- their back yard, and they're in one-but what kind of housing screaming about it. But for hun- stuck in here to be to dreds of years men have been brainwashed. and be poisoned in the factories and the watch We know there's chronic My father 50 mines. years ago but housing shortage, how worked in a Now he suffers with they've got the nerve to put bronchitis people in these multi-storey flats and a bad chest. I don't know. 'But the pollution is see, worst yuu 'Even in a rabbit pen you've pollution of the mind. Man's got the chance to run around. mind has been polluted for cen- turies, but you don't see the UN "All this stems from the system The daily papor that loads the fight against the Torles. {20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) 10.14 for 6 months (156 Issues 5.07 lor 3 months (78 Issuda) If you want to take Workers Press twice a wook the rates are: £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) £6.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Fill in the form below NOW and send to: Circulation Dopt., Workers Press, 186a Clapham High St., London, SWA 7UG. I would like to take out a subscription to Workers Press.

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Amount enclosed £ of and the implementation locally of a similar policy to that contained in Camden the resolution. The resolutions were: That in the event of thi Housing Finance Bill becom ing law, the Council will not impose so-called fair rents nor impose a rent increase of fl per week; •That the officers are in- h his wife Sue and one of their children holding special conferences in Pr Stockholm to discuss that.'

Pete stressed that the rent Bill could not be separated from massive financial crisis the which is gripping capitalism.

'The floating of the £ can only last until other countries folłow suit. What other measures are left? There can't be so many alternatives until the Tories try what they did in 1925-1926—cut wages and increase hours.

'They're heading for a wages policy for sure' What are the prospects for. a fight back by the working class?

'There's certainly some hope.

You see youth on the IV, pupil power and so on, which four years ago was unthinkable. Per- haps we'll get our lead from them when they reject this society completely. The fight may start from there. You get youth going straight from school onto line. dole or the production 'An crash will economic threaten everyone's living stan- dards, but people aren't going to stand for a backward step' What does Pete think of the mass retreat by trade union and Labour leaders in the face of the Tory offensive? 'I used to look to some "left" union leaders and think "We've got our protection at the top".

It's now clear to everyone that we've been sold out altogether by these people. 'As regards the Labour MPs, capitalists with a they're just Commons conscience. In the you've got about 50 supposedly "left" MPs, 50 extreme right- wing Tories and the rest are all Where's identical. the opposi- tion? Any opposition has been effectively bought off. 'I agree we have to build an alternative to these people.

'You can't be satisfied with the position the Communist Party got. And as for Kosygin, has Brezhnev and Mao Tse-tung, how do they dare to sit around the same table as Nixon, when he's bombing the very life out of Vietnam? has 'Reading Workers Press explained a lot of things to me.

I found it a bit complicated to begin with. I had the basic ideas, and 1 can say the Press taught me a lot. I can say I've developed politically in a very short time. 'What I like about the Workers structed not to make any for calculating preparations fair rents nor for the compul- sory fl increase and no extra stafi for these purposes is therefore necessary; •That the electors of the borough be so informed im- mediately and the officers be authorized incur any necessary expenditure; That all housing authorities Press is the way the working class can speak through it, rather than being preached at.

•Perhaps that's the of one faults of the "Morning Star", never gripped me and made me want to pick up the next issue, like the Press does. if the "Star" appears as editorial board is completely isolated from reality, from what the working class is thinking and saying. 'And what they're saying is we won't stand this system for

ALL TRADES UN

ALLIANCE MEET

The currency crisis and the working class LEICESTER: Wednesday Juty 5, 8 р.m. Queen's Hotel, Rut- St. 'Build Councils of land Action'. PORT TALBOT: Thursday July 6, 7.30 p.m. Progressive Club (Band Club), Talbot Square.

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Name Address in the United Kingdom be they informed of council's decision. The Housing Committee's recommendations were carried by 28 votes to 17. The West Bromwich decision is in sharp contrast to the 'wait-and-see' formula adopted by the national meeting of Labour councillors in Shefield last weekend. ever, Pete concludes. 'We've lessons of 1920s and learnt the 1930s and never be repeated. 'If any revolution comes and they knock it down, there will be another arise and it will be a damned sight stronger.'

UNIONS

IEETINGS

LUTON: Thursday July в, 8 p.m. St John Ambulance Brigade Hall, Lea Road. SOUTH EAST LONDON: Thurs: day July 6, 8 p.m. Deptford Engineers' Club (opposite New Cross Stn). 10, ACTON: Monday 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). NORTH LONDON: Thursday July 13, 8 p.m. 'Bricklayers Arms' Tottenham High Rd, (nr White Hart Lane). information about ow and send to NATIONAL

LABOUR LEAGUE,

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FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

STRIKE

ACTION

Nearly all the men we spoke to on have made up their minds to two major national wage lengthy strike, the lasting over claims has shattered the holiday period and into August.

'It's hard being on strike, said relative appearance of one apprentice from the small industrial peace prevail- firm of Henderson. John M. You have to give things up, like ing in Aberdeen until going out and so on. But we're recently. going to stick it out now. It's up, to the employers to make the About 1,500 in engineers first move. We gave them plenty Aberdeen and Fraserburgh— of time to make a decent offer 50 miles to the north—are now and I think they're losing more in the fourth week of their than we are by the strike.

district-wide strike for the full His friend said: 'We're fight- national claim. ing the government's policy on wages really. It might have been And building workers at three best if several unions had come major sites in city are out together and taken the gov- involved in the campaign of sel- ective strikes for their claim ernment on- -miners, railwaymen, of dockers and engineers. But as far £10-a-week rise, shorter hours as our strike goes just now, we'll and longer holidays. just have to wait and see.

A mood of cautious determina- 'Wait and see' seems to be the tion prevails amongst the engi- policy of the local district com- neers. mittee on which the Communist 'There hesitation was some Party has considerable influence.

about coming out to begin with At the meeting which decided on though the -even vote was strike action four weeks ago no almost 100 per said a cent, issued about the warning was Brian Adam, foundry worker at developing economic CriSiS Barry, Henry Cook. 'But and about the Tories' determination everyone is determined to fight it to attack independent trade I think the employers now.

OUL

through the Industrial unionism will have to make a serious offer Relations Court. soon.' District president John McCon- The final offer before the strike began was £2.25 a week, though nachie has said that the leader- ship's decision to call off national Employers' local Engineering action in January was justified.

Federation secretary John B. Forrest threatened to withdraw The main danger facing the strike this after the strike began.

is certainly not any lack of solidarity and determination. Local Labour Lord Provost It is the lack of a leadership pre- John Smith's attempts to bring the two sides pared to explain that the together for talks employers' intransigence springs also aroused little enthusiasm.

"It's more money we want, one from their determination to keep of wages low in the face of the the pickets at the largest Aberdeen firm most critical economic situation involved in the in the history of capitalism.

strike, Consolidated Pneumatic Tools, said. 'All the The illusion that Aberdeen employers engineers can win any have come up with is different real vic- of trade ways presenting the same tory simply by union amount of money.' methods—which flies in the face Robert Powell Is in tonight's BBC 2 film dramatization of the life of 'Shelley' the poet.

BBC 1

11.05 Will Hay Comedy Film 9.20 Mr Benn. 10.45 Boomph Season. 12.20 Women. 12.45 Becker. 12.25 Nai with Zindagi Freud Food Bellbird. Naya Jeevan. 12.55 Disc a Dawn.

on 1.10 Woobinda. Sean. 1.40 2.05 1.30 Pandy. 1.45 1.25 Andy News, Castle Haven. 2.30 Good After- weather. 1.53 Wimbledon 1972. noon. 2.55 Racing. 3.45 Edgar 4.50 Magic Roundabout. 4.55 Wallace. Pixie 4.40 Hatty Town. 4.55 Starsport. 5.10 and Dixie. Little Women. 5.44 Parsley Lift Off. 5.20 Fly into Danger. 5.50 5.20 News. 5.50 News, weather.

6.00 JUNKIN.

6.00 YOUR REGION TONIGHT.

6.25 CARTOON TIME

(London only: Nation-

6.35 CROSSROADS.

wide).

7.00 THE SMITH FAMILY.

7.30 CORONATION STREET

.00 CADE'S COUNTY. Violen Echo.

MAIN CHANCE.

9.00 THE

Widow's Mite. 8.10 THE EXPERT. A Clear anc Easy Duty 9.00 NEWS, Weather. Series).

11.00 PROFESSIONAL WREST-

9.20 BRITAIN UNDER SIEGE. 10

Part 2 in eight-part series.

on World War il. Bill Grundy.

10.20 DOWN TO EARTH.

12.00 CAN BUSINESS AFFORD

10.50 24 HOURS.

A CONSCIENCE.

Pickets at Consolldated Pneu matic Tools of the lessons of Manchester— has to be broken down, and fight taken up against the union leaders' in calling off retreat national action in January at a time when the unity of miners and engineers could have forced the government to resign.

opportunist The of threat leadership also hangs heavily over of the builders' the conduct in strike this area.

UCATT

leaders have accepted a deal from Peter Cameron Ltd., whose Shell-Mex site at Tullos was to have come out. The offer accepted was only national claim. The half 'selective' strikes are now con- fined to the Michelin site at Altens (Wimpey); _the_Treetops Hotel site (Alexander Hall); and the New Market development (Myton). Stalinist The reformist and leaders of Aberdeen's labour movement have been conducting a furious campaign in recent months to create a mood of paro chial complacency based on the supposed benefits to the local 'community' of the North Sea 'oil boom'. But as one CPT picket said: 'You can't separate our fight for decent wages from rising prices and in particular the Tory Rent Bill. It could imme- diately eat up a good part of whatever increase we win.'

CHANNEL: 1.45

Racing. 4.05 Paulus. Puffin. 4.25 4.20 Good atternoon. 4.55 London. 6.00 Nows. 6.10 F Troop. 6.35 Cross- roads. 7.00 Please sir. 7.30 Lon- don. 11.45 News, weather. Epilogue. WESTWARD. As Channel except: 6.00 Diary. 11.44 News. 11.47 3.55 Gus Honeybun. 4.20 News.

Faith for Life.

BBC 2

11.00 Play School. 4.30 Wimble- don 1972. 7.30 NEWSROOM, Weather.

8.00 TIMES

REMEMBERED.

Denis Tuohy talks to William Ross a naval archi- tect and Theosophist. 8.10 MAN ALIVE. The Biggest Crap Game in the World: Cannes Film Festival.

9.00 POT BLACK.

Snooker Competition. 9.20 SHELLEY. A biography of the poet by John Elliot.

MATCH OF THE DAY.

10.35 From Wimbledon. 11.25 NEWS, Weather.

11.30 LATE NIGHT LINE-UP.

Workers Press, Wo

BET

EIRE'S trade unionists will be asked today if they will agree to reopen talks on a National Pay Agreement to replace the document they rejected overwhelmingly more than a week ago. The union mandate for new negotiations will be sought at the four-day. annual delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Salthill, Co Galway. Talks last were proposed Friday when the National Em- ployer-Labour Conference was recalled by its chairman, Pro- fessor Basil Chubb, to consider a further attempt to have another National Pay Agreement. A mandate from the unions is oth however, before the necessary,

ICTU,

which represents the pre unions at national pay negoti- ations, can re-open talks with the employers. The 12-member Employer- Labour Conference working party is scheduled to meet again on July 10 for a week of intense talks. for Proposals new talks to emerged after a series of meet- dif last Friday between Eire wo ings premier Jack Lynch and the agr SOUTHERN: 2.30 London. 3.40 Blue Heckle and Jeckle. 4.00 House- 7.00 Jokers wild. 7.30 London.

12.00 News. 12.10 Weather. Guideline. HTV: 2.15 Racing. 3.45 Ugliest 4.15 Tinkertainment. 4.30 girl. Crossroads. 4.55 London. 6.01 Report West. 6.15 Report Wales.

6.30 Dave Cash. 7.00 Jokers 6.00 wild. 7.30 Coronation street. 8.00 Hawaii five-o. 9.00 London. 11.45 Frighteners. 12.15 Weather.

HTV Wales and HTV Cymru/ Wales as above except: Hamdden. 4.15 Miri Mawr. 6.01 ews. Y Dyda. HTV West as above except: 6.15 Report West. ANGLIA: 1.00 Royal show. 1.45 Racing. 4.15 News. 60 Dou 7.00 Anglia. 6.35 Crossroads. Shirley's world. 7.30 London.

ATV MIDLANDS: 1.00 Royal show. 1.45 Racing. 3.35 Horo- 6.00 Today. 6.35 roads. 7.00 Who do you do? 7.30 London. 10.30 Odd couple. 11.00 Wrestling. y of YORKSHIRE: 1.45 Racing. 2.15 Calendar. 2.30 London. 3.40 Dr Simon Locke. 4.10 News. 4.15 Crossroads. 4.40. Hatty town. 4.55 London. 6.00 Calendar. 6.30 University challenge. 7.00 Jokers wild. 7.30 Coronation street. 8.00 Jason King. 9.00 London. 10.30 Press, Wedneeday Juty 5, 1972 PAGE 11

LET'S CALL INK

TORIES" BLUFF

will Ministers for Labour will Finance and the Federated Union of Employers; and a meeting of the ICTU national executive. Later a plenary session of the hey Employer-Labour Conference was called with such haste that only 26 of the 50 members were present. Moves for these new national talks coincide with the expiry of the present 18-month national agreement for the first section of workers who came under the agreement in January 1970.

These include 50,000 building 3,000 maintenance •workers, craftsmen, over 2,000 in men the motor trade and workers in engineering and electrical con- tracting sheet metal industries and other industries. The main objections to the previous proposed agreement— rejected at a special ICTU con- ference just over a week ago by dissatis- a ›- majority-were over the pay increases, faction as well as provisions on pay for women workers and the clauses dealing with fringe benefits.

The trade unions also objected to the wide variation on which different groups of workers would benefit from a national agreement. .40 Blue light. 11.00 Wrestling. 11.45 Weather. 3:40 GRANADA: 1.45 Racing. Junkin. 4.10 News. Peyton Place.

4.40 Sean. 4.55 London. 6.00 News. What's on? 6.30 Jimmy Stewart. 7.00 University chal- lenge. 7.30 London. 10.30 Shir- ley's world. 11.00 Wrestling. 11.45 What the papers say. TYNE TEES: 1.45 Racing. 2.15 Signalman Holmes. 2.30 London.

3.40 Simon Locke. 4.10. News.

4.15 Crossroads. 4.40 ' Make a wish. 4.55 London. 6.00 Today. 6.30 University challenge. 7.00 Jokers wild. 7.30 Coronation street. 8.00 Jason King. 9.00 London. 10.30 Not so much a theatre. 11.00 Wrestling. 11.45 News. 12.00 Epilogue. BORDER: 1.45 Racing. 3.40 News.

3.45 Women. 4.10 Yoga. 4.40 Grasshopper island. 4.55 London.

6.00 News. 7.00 Jokers wild. Lookaround. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.30 London. 11.45 News. SCOTTISH: 1.45 Racing. 3.35 Horoscope. 3.45 Women. 4.10 Animaland. 4.15 Crossroads. 4.40 Hatty town. 4.55 London. 6.00 don. 10.30 At odds. 11.00 Wrest- ling. 11.45 Late call. 11.50 Stuart Gillies. NeWS. 3A45 Women in Yoga News. 3.45 Women. 4.10 4.40 Enchanted house. 4.55 Lon- don. 6.00 News and weather. 6.10 Grampian week. 6.25. Cana- dian view. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Jokers wild. 7.30 Coronation street. 8.00 Department S. 8.55 Police news. 9.00 London. 11.45 Scales of justice.

Miners' claim is flexible' Seven dockers named by container firm PAGE 12 Workers Press, Wednesday Jul or more ANTI-INTERNMENT demon- strations in Northern Ireland have been threatened for next month unless all men held under the Special Powers Act are released by August I.

The warning came from the Northern Resistance Movement, the Co. Fermanagh-based civil rights organization, which also demanded the end of the Act. It rejected the idea of a referendum on the future of Ulster as a 'farce'. The movement gave no details of its demonstration plans.

Anti-internment protests, once a regular feature of the Northern Ireland scene, died out when Ulster Secretary William White- law began releasing interned and detained men. But the decision by both wings of the IRA to capitulate to talks with Whitelaw has immeasurably strengthened the hand of the right-wing Loyalist extremists.

Ever since they made their ceasefire declarations the Orange- men have been able to step up their demands. During the past few nights the right-wing Ulster Defence Association has taken to the streets in shows of considerable strength. Their carefully-rehearsed acti- vities are designed to achieve the greatest bargaining position for the Protestant bourgeoisie in the talks with the Tory govern- ment. On Monday General Robert Ford intervened when the UDA started barricade building in west Belfast. After several hours of secret dealing-during which Whitelaw was kept informed - it was that the army and the agreed UDA should stage joint patrols.

This is an open provocation to the Catholic families who live in the area. Their movements will now be subjected to continuous harass- ment by UDA vigilante squads.

HOUSEWIVES paid up to 26 per cent more for fish last year — while for British fishermen it was a bonanza, it was discused in the annual report of the White Fish Authority yesterday. The value of total fish supplies for the year increased by £16.5m to £102.9m. British landings rose from £64.9m to £80.2m. AUSTIN Morris shop stewards at Longbridge, Birmingham, are to recommend that car works reject a Measured-Day Work scheme being proposed by man- agement. The offer is for £43.80 a week but it will mean giving up piecework.

LATE NEWS

CONTAINER ROW

OFFICIAL

Solicitor Norman Turner, whose last-minute inter- vention in the Court of Appeal last month saved three dockers from jail, has again stepped into a picketing case. He said yesterday he had been asked to brief counsel as friends of the court to assist the NIRC on matters of picketing law at the Midland Cold Storage case today (see this page.) Mr John Vinelott QC and Mr Robert Alexander been instructed by him. The case is expected to last three days.

lesday July 5, 1972 MINERS' delegates yesterday unanimously "adopted a 'flexible' wages policy setting their union's sights on rises of £5.50 to £7 next year.

. A compromise resolution moved by, the National Union of Mineworkers' Derbyshire area instructs the national executive to include a claim for a threshold agreement, to take account of rises in the cost of living, in future pay negotia- tions. New minimum wages in the industry, the union's Morecambe conference decided, should be £30 on the surface, £32 under- ground and f40 on the face. 'In the event of an unsatis- factory offer from the National Coal Board,' the resolution says, 'the national executive committee should consult the membership their with the view to taking of industrial various forms action.' Conference had earlier nar- resolution rowly adopted the from the union's staff section, COSA, which charged the execu- with tive members ensuring benefit from increases in produc- tivity.

"THE

Industrial

NATIONAL

Relations Court will this morn- ing hear a new action by a container firm against seven London dockers. But the named dockers in- dicated yesterday that they would not be attending the hearing. One told the press that the monses were of little more value than toilet paper. The Midland Cold Store con- tainer depot in East London has been picketed by dockers since early in May. Lorry drivers arriving at the gate have been told the depot is black and that dockers were claiming the work inside.

Now the company is asking the NIRC to declare the picket- ing an unfair industrial practice under the Industrial Relations Act. Bernie Steer and Vic Turner are among those named in sum- monses. Both men refused to appear before the NIRC over the Chobham Farm dispute. The other five are Ron Hedges, Eddie Hedges, Derek Watkins, Cornelius Clancy and Anthony Merrick. While some received their summons at dawn outside the depot, others received them at their homes the night before.

One of those named told yesterday: The Workers Press just like any summonses are other piece of paper. We don't recognize the NIRC. "There will be a picket down here tomorrow and we will carry on.' Other pickets said they hoped the high-powered Jones-Aldington committee looking at the scope of dock work would come up with some answers to the prob- lem of those on the temporary unattached register.

WEATHER

rain, DULL WEATHER with drizzle and hill fog over the Midlands, and south-east east England will move away east during the day, becoming dry with sunny intervals. North-east England and eastern Scotland will be mostly cloudy, but with some bright or sunny intervals. Western districts of England, Wales, Northern ireland, central and western Scotland will have showers and sunny intervals.

The showers may be moderate or heavy at times in the north- west. It will continue mostly rather cool. Outlook for Thursday and Friday: with rather cool Generally showers and sunny intervals, but become southern areas with sunny spells mainly dry on Friday. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Published by Workers Press, Office. 186a Clapham Street, London, High

SW4 7UG.

Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU), Street, London. 180b Clapham High

SW4 7UG.

FROM DAVID MAUDE IN MORECAMBE

The key . Yorkshire, Scottish, South Wales and Kent coal- fields opposed the COSA resolu- were anxious in the tion, and subsequent debate to insist that the target figures must be scru- pulously observed. More than one speaker pointed out that to say rates 'should be' a certain higure, could be danger- ous. (The original motion trom much Kent had contained the stronger word 'demands'.)

For its part, the executive, in speech

NUM

secretary Lawrence Daly, sought to reserve its position on the call for a threshold agreement. (Such agreements provide that if, after a certain period of its elapses, prices have term increased more than a previously agreed figure, should pay adjusted upwards. They are seen by right-wingers on the TUC General Council as a means of "moderating' wage demands.)

just how exile the menion it.

drew attention membership 'It will be the decide who what strategy to pursue if necessary,' he said. The Pickets stop a lorry outside the Midlan LEADING Communist Party, International Socialist and Maoist group members stayed silent on Monday when rank- and-file i engineers bitterly attacked their president, Hugh Scanlon, for failing to lead a national fight on the union's pay claim. Scanion addressed a specially- convened meeting of 500 Lon- don shop stewards in an effort to step up the plant-bargaining • the Confederation campaign of Shipbuilding and Engineering Union's No. 8 region. It was clear from his speech, however, that any intensification of the was only de- campaign signed 'pressure' material as when national negotiations were resumed. The AUEW president began by telling stewards he didn't want to hear criticism either of CSEU policy or that of his own union.

They had to look at the situation as it was; to do anything else was a negative approach. Admitting the plant-bargaining campaign had been slow to get off the ground, Scanlon said had been understandable because the switch from national to local level had been 'revolutionary.

The real indication that the plant strategy was grinding to a halt when Scanlon said came they had asked for 'exploratory' talks with the Engineering Em- ployers' Federation. minimum wage demands had been set down as firm not figures but as desirable targets.

Moving the COSA motion, Les Story argued that jobs could be hit by the 'wrong tactical move' of laying down wage targets in a resolution. In perhaps the clearest expres- wing's sion of the NUM right current thinking, he said that having thrashed a Tory premier the miners could now expect would that government extract retribution in insidious ways. They might 'go cagey, he claimed, on writing off capital debts of the NCB or delay insti- of a national energy tution policy. In answer, Scottish miner John Phillips said that miners must not be afraid of a confrontation with the Tories. 'Every day,' he said, 'the work- ers in this country are confronted with the most vicious govern- ment of this century On a card motion vote, however, the was carried by 171 votes to 141.

compromise Moving the he Midland Cold Storage depot in East Londo The first speaker from the floor was from Stanmore Engin- eering in North London. Workers there were evicted from the fac- tory last week after occupying for seven weeks in support of the national claim. They • have also been sent dismissal notices.

The steward leapt to the microphone and blasted the exe- cutive for its lack of support. They had done everything they could and fought as hard as possible. Now they wanted some assistance. Another North London shop steward accused Scanlon of being undemocratic in limiting the dis- cussion to the current situation.

The essence of the question • was the economic crisis of capi- talism and the general offensive against all workers, not just en- gineers. In that situation the decision to abandon the fight nationally had been disastrous. 'The whole campaign was a disjointed shambles, because of the lack of local or national leadership, he said. 'This shameful policy is a con- tinuation of the retreat from 1968 when you sold the past for a productivity deal. . He pointed out he and thousands of stewards had fought for Scanlon's election. He said that the recent circu- lar signed by Scanlon had taken the emphasis off a struggle for a shorter working week. To say that national negotia- tions had given us little is surely Herbert Parkin, irom Derbyshire, argued that by the autumn of this year the Wilber- force-plus award to face work- would have been eroded by ers £1.50. And by next February, taking into account tax, he predicted £4.50 would have been taken away. Kent miner Joe Burke said that despite the tremendous achievement of the strike, the miners had still left quite a bit behind. The reason for inflation was not wage claims but the crisis of capitalism, he said.

'We must intensify our wage demands if we are to serve the interests of our members?

Abe Moffat, another Scottish delegate, warned that what had been won was a fight but not the battle. Such fights would con- tinue until the system of society was changed, he said. 'Our claims are just and our claims are necessary! Yesterday afternoon, the con- union instructed the ference executive to submit an immediate claim to cut underground hours by 74 to 30 a week. Appropriate reductions in surface hours are also to be demanded. ast London an indictment of the leadership.

Those who claim that it is mad to assert we should have taken national strike action ignore the whole movement of the working class against the Tories.

'Had the engineers joined the miners and the railwaymen there doubt we is no could have brought down the Tory govern- That is the only way ment. workers can defend their living standards, he concluded..

An • enraged Scanlon then launched a venomous attack on the steward. 'The only thing a man of your persuasion has forgotten is the sentence accusing me of being a "lackey of the capitalists", he said. The steward retorted: If the cap fits wear it, Hughie?

Scanlon said if the campaign was a shambles it was because 'you won't do anything to make it a success. Yesterday's 'Morning Star' made Scanlon's meeting the second, front-page lead with photographs. But none of the North London stewards' comments was re- ported, nor the speech • by the Stanmore steward appealing for fight by the national some leadership. No mention was made either of Scanlon's announcement about exploratory talks. Significantly, the two brief re- ports of rank-and-file speeches stressed the need for more mili- tancy and for 'unity'.