Workers Press no. 825

workers press Only one answer-

GENERAL STRIKE!

LOBBY TUC TODAY— CONGRESS HOUSE 1p.m

STATEMENT BY

THE POLITICAL

COMMITTEE OF

THE SOCIALIST

LABOUR LEAGUE

FIVE TRADE unionists are behind bars in Pen- tonville jail. There is only one answer to this act of war by the ruling class—a General Strike to bring this hated Tory government down. The TUC inner cabinet, which meets today, has the mobilizing responsibility of the whole 10 million mem- bers of the trade union movement in all-out action against the government. If they do not call a General Strike to force out this government of speculat- ors, tax evaders and exploiters, will be exposed they as more than jailer's nothing assistants. Those locked up in Pentonville —Bernie Steer, Vic Turner, Tony Merrick, Derek Watkins and Cornelius Clancy-face an in- definite sentence in prison, un- imited fines and the confisca.

tion of all their wordly goods'.

What is their 'crime'? They have fought for the most basic right that any working man or woman possesses-the right to work. To do this they have used the only means that the working class has in its battle against the ruling class-picket- ing and blacking. But the Tory government has decided that these historically- weapons of struggle enshrined are outlawed. To use them today imprisonment without means At a stroke' the Tories trial. are attempting to expunge from bac the record 200 years of working- class history. But the trade unions were built in Britain, the first capital- ist country, under conditions of total illegality. The ancestors of the *Pentonville Five' are the cotton makers of the north-west who constructed the first mass unions at the dawn of the In- dustrial Revolution. When the Combination Laws of 1799 made any organization

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTI

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRA

4р9a of workers illegal, ruling the class then-like the Tories to- day-used industrial spies, pro- vocateurs and their prisons to to better stop workers fighting their living standards. But the first generations of trade unionists refused to be slaves. They built their organiza- tions in spite of bloody repres- sion and legal terror. lorry Today the dockers, drivers and printworkers are taking the same road of defiance as the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were jailed and deported in 1834 in their fight for the basic democratic rights of free trade unions. ask today's TUC special We meeting: Will you turn yOUT back on this history of struggle and defiance and let Heath achieve what the cottonmasters and Royal Hussars of the 19th century couldn't do-smash the trade union movement? The hour is so historic, the task so momentous that any cowardly traitor who seeks to compromise with this Tory government must be driven out of the workers' movement.

They have no mandate what- soever to remain in office. Since • MONDAY JULY 24, 1972 • No 825 • 4p

EWSLETTER

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

the General Election propaganda about *law - over and 711 C two years ago, they have broken order'. The Minister behind this every election pledge they made.

hypocritical rubbish Reginald is Maudling, who was forced to re- • They have deliberately created sign last week as deputy prime Young- massive minister and Home Secretary in unemplo ment. sters leaving school the wake of a Fraud Squad in- life on the demned to a dole vestigation into company he a queue. was connected with. The Socialist Labour League, • They promised to cut prices the All Trades Unions Alliance but the cost of *at a stroke" and the Young Socialists have living has risen on a meteoric been the unchallengeable leaders scale. in the campaign to get the Tories out. (See 'Our record on Toryism' • They promised better housing but instead have encouraged a P. We have consistently warned property bonanza and introduced the Tories would be driven that double counci legislation by the economic of their crisis rents. parasitic system attack Own • They have railroaded Britain the working class and its trade the Common Market, into unions. monopolists conspiracy aimed at This blow has been delivered.

strengthening international capi- It is now up to the entire work- tal in its fight against the Euro- lead ing class to follow the dockers pean working class. already by the given their labour to and withdraw • In Ulster they have deployed make this government resign.

18,000 troops, built more than If miners, railway workers, and used concentration camps TV powermen, engineers, tech- hideous torture techniques printworkers joined in nicians. against innocent civilians.

solidarity with the dockers this Accompanying these vicious crisis-ridden government wouldn't attacks on the working class has last a week. The General Strike been a torrent of Tory be lifted press must not the

ALL TRADES UNIO

TUC: GREAT RUSS

Fleet Street printworkers stopped Sunday's papers when they walked and marched to out Pentonville jail General Election and the return of a Labour government pledged to socialist policies. The immediate task is the building of Councils of Action all over the country comprising all groups and tendencies in the labour and trade union move- ment. These Councils of Action will form the fighting base of the working class in preparing and the General Strike. maintaining The TUC must: • Break off all talks with Heath. • Call a General Strike. • Build Councils of Action!

• Force the Tories out! • Return a Labour government pledged to policies of nationali- zation of the docks, transport, banks and basic in- property, dustry and the immediate repeal of the Industrial Relations Act!

July 23, 1972

ES UNIONS ALLIANCE LOBBY OF

AT RUSSELL STREET WC1

Our record on Toryism PAGE 2 Workers Press, Monday July 24, 1 THE SOCIALIST Labour League is the ONLY tendency in the workers' movement which has fought consistently for the mobil- ization of the working class to force the Tories out. Our record speaks for itself.

On Tuesday, June 23, 1970— FIVE days after Heath came to office, the Central Committee of the Socialist Labour League pub- lished this statement in Workers Press: The working class is now saddled with the most reactionary post-war government. The Tories cannot overcome their economic consistently crisis except by attacking the standard of living of the working class. They will aggravate it by increasing the number of unemployed, possibly THE WEEKLY paper of the In- Socialist group, ternational 'Socialist Worker', has decided that the unions are not capable of fighting the em- ployers and the Tory govern- ment. In an article published, ironically, a political strike the day against. the Tory government through Britain's ports, swept Worker' 'Socialist reporter Glyn Carver wrote: ... the traditional workers' not yet up organizations are giving to the task of the bosses a real fight.' ("Socialist Worker, July 22, p.5.) This, said Carver, was the 'in- escapable' conclusion of the engineering pay Manchester battle which led to 30 sit-ins throughout the city. This kind of contempt for the working class and its traditional organizations, like the trade Labour unions and the even Party, will cause justified anger rail workers dockers, among and miners. All these workers have proved conclusively that capable, and more they are to fight on to than willing, bring this government down.

It is not the 'traditional' organi- - lacking zations that are fighting spirit, but the leader- ship. continue the base and They policies cowardly coalitions with the Tory government and while trade employers unionists suffer the ultimate sanction of the capitalist state-jail. But of course it is the task of the thoroughly middle-class in the Inter- campaigners Socialist. to national group divert workers' attention from this leadership and the politi- cal challenge it poses to the rank and file. That is why Carver also claims on the engineering battle: 'Union leaders put in the claim without understanding what they were up against or what they would need to win? Carver may recall the detailed Fill in the form below and

SECRETARY,

SOCIALIST

186A CLAPHAM HIGH ST, L

Name Address / July 24, 1972 devaluing the pound, and by putting the clock of trade union history back 70 years as they proclaimed at Selsdon in January.

As the trading position of Britain and the international worsens competition increases, the Tories will either float the pound or devalue it while viciously attack- ing wages and adding to the unemployed. •We state unequivocally that far from rejecting the help of the TUC, the Torles will gladly use their "help" to break strikes, penalize militants and force pro- ductivity deals down the throats of reluctant workers. Baldwin did it-so will Heath. Trade unionists and shop stewards — you have been warned! *• Out with the Tory government of bankers and monopolists.

review of strategy made by the engineers' leader Hugh Scanlon (who does not inci- dentally rate a single mention in the article. When Scanlon called his national committee together in January to discuss action on the claim he made it quite clear that a national strike would mean a showdown with the govern- ment and that this was not desirable-so much for Scan- lon's confusion. Carver's solution for workers in this period of class conflict is as follows: The Manchester engineers could have won unity and strength if the factory had been trans- a district level lated onto through shop stewards' con- trol of the dispute. For future reference he suggests 'shake out of the union machine'. again we see the Here once deadly role of the IS. They work with the determination of the disturbed liberals to prevent at all costs a political development in the working class. The issue facing the trade union movement is not machinery or an abstract discussion of tac- ties, but politics. The trade unions are led by reformists.

desperately The reformists seek to avoid a clash with the though this Tories, even cowardice defeat for means their membership. Within the rank and file this leadership is protected faith- fully by the Communist Party.

Particularly on these questions in the policies of their Liaison Committee for the Defence of the CP has Trade Unions, full IS backing. The task facing workers, there- fore, is to develop a political will consciousness which enable them to challenge these traitors and throw them out the movement and force the Tories to resign. This is Socialist Labour what the League and the All Trades Unions Alliance pledges to do.

information about ow and send to NATIONAL

LABOUR LEAGUE,

H ST, LONDON, SW4 7UG.

' • Build the Socialist Labour League and the Workers Press."

Then, in July, 1970, Central Committee member Cliff Slaughter wrote a series of two articles The Tories can be entitled defeated'. He called on trade 'prepare politically unionists to to defeat the Tories'. He went on: *It is a question of mobilizing the strength of the working class to such effect that the Tories are and not a forced to resign, the question of insisting that government collaborate with the unions, as the union leaders say.

The economic crisis will quickly worsen and the strike struggles of the working class will continue to build up their confidence. But struggles, wages are in these Inevitably being joined, more and questions of jobs, by more, future of whole security, the industries, nationalization (docks, civil aviation, shipbuilding,, road transport and even the press).

These problems unavoidably raise the question of ownership and of the class power which alone can settle such questions.

Immediately the question is to the labour insist throughout movement that the union leaders break off all connection with the Tory government. The plans of this government acting on behalf of the unions' enemies, are known to everybody. * No collaboration. *• Fight the government. Force it to resign.' When five months later the Tories first mooted their anti- union Bill we were again the ONLY tendency to come forward with a concrete policy. We said LABOUR LEADERS refused up for the jailed dockers by Party to bring the Tories dow No Labour spokesman called for industrial action to back the dockers. DENIS HEALEY, an ex- Communist Party member, now shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that the law must be upheld. This contrasts sharply with feeling among the Party rank and file. It is further proof that many in the Party leader- ship would do nothing, or support the Tories, if they attempted to smash a General Strike. also varied from a Reactions vicious attack on the 'Pentonville Five' made by shadow Employ- Minister

REGINALD

ment moral PRENTICE, to useless outrage from the so-called left of the parliamentary party.

Prentice worked on the full- time staff of the T&GWU from 1950 to 1957 and was in charge of the union's advice and service bureau. He now holds the dock- land seat of East Ham North.

He gave clearest expression to this mood. In a comment which him immediate expul- must earn sion from the Party he said: *I have no sympathy at all with They Bernie Steer and others. were wrong to organize picketing and blacking against the policy of their union. They were even more wrong to defy the court.

unionists should not "Trade rally round these men as though latter day Tolpuddle they are Martyrs. They are just not worth BARBARA CASTLE, architect of the Labour government's own anti-union legislation, scrupul- ously avoided her calling on Party or workers to act. 'arouse the The jailing should united anger of the labour move- ment, she said. 'Of course we want an orderly build cannot society-but we order on the blatant injustices the Industrial Relations Act.

there was only one way to defeat the Industrial Relations Bill, and that was to get the Tories out.

slogans One-day stoppages, • were meaning- like "Kill the Bill' less slogans which simply chan- nelled off the anger and militancy of the working class into more 'protests'. The record speaks again: December 7, 1970, the On Central Committee issued this statement on the eve of the one- day token strike: Millions of workers sense that a fight of historic proportions lies When the ahead. immediately British working class goes into the rights it action to defend has won in centuries of struggle, it occupies the front line on behalf of workers internationally capitalism's who - because of global crisisface the attacks of their own ruling classes. The Tory government has set course to destroy the trade unions. Every knows class-conscious worker that there can be no compromise on this fundamental question.

The Tories must gol' The demand to force the Tories out was the central demand of our Alexandra Palace rally in February 1971, at the national conference of the All Trades Unions Alliance in Birmingham on November 6, 1971, Young Socialists' Right-to-Work marches and at the monster rally held at the Empire Pool, Wem- bley, on March 12 this year.

But even as the working class for this, its biggest lines up confrontation with the ruling class General Strike, the since the refused this weekend to stand cers by mobilizing the whole ries down. Then she launched a latter- day defence of her own pro- under which trade posals unionists could ultimately have gone to jail: 'Don't let anyone fool you that the Labour government ever pro- posed anything so nonsensical or iniquitous,' she said. From the parliamentary 'left' TOM DRIBERG who represents the docker constituency of Bark- ing called for sympathy for his jailed constituent Bernie Steer: *I am going to visit my con- reassure him that the stituent to overwhelming majority of the labour movement will be very strongly in sympathy with him and his comrades,' he said.

*I regard their protest as a moral protest against a vicious and intolerable law.

ERIC HEFFER,

who now for the rivals Michael Foot leadership of the parliamentary "left', said the government were in some difficulty. These men who are in Pen- tonville jail today are there only because the Act is in existence.

The government, because of the Act, are in difficulty.' He went on to repeat the now defunct and discredited slogan of the TUC. The government, he cannot override the court said, -the monster they themselves created. Therefore the immediate repeal of the Act is an absolute necessity. The Labour MPs have acted true to form-by attacking the with dockers, like Prentice, or cringing moral platitudes.

Trotsky's verdict on the Labour leaders during the 1926 General Strike is most apt; he wrote: •We must look facts in the face: the chief efforts of the official leaders of the Labour Party and of considerable num- bers of the trade union leaders not be directed towards will paralysing the bourgeois state by means of the strike, but towards paralysing the General Strike the aid of the bourgeois with state! ("Where is Britain Going'.

New Park Publications.) Communist Party and the re- visionist groups deliberately avoid the call for a General Strike to force the government out.

Just listen to the front-page editorial in Saturday's 'Morning Star'. It concludes with this statement: The government must be forced to retreat from its onslaught against British demo- cratic liberties." This is the most treacherous rubbish. The Stalinists are here Tories to let pleading with the the five dockers free, but then allowing Heath and his gang to stay in office. that the Tories can The illusion be 'pressured' is the same line during 'Star' peddled that the its notorious 'Kill the Bill' cam- paign. And we all know where that ended up. Then there are the revisionists International Socialism of the group. They have produced a 'docks special' news four-page sheet which makes this call: 'Demand that the TUC organize general industrial action to set the dockers free.' Again we have the studious avoidance of the demand for a General Strike and also their demand leaves the Tories intact and in office. The Socialist Labour League and the Workers Press have an unequivocal position: • Call a General Strike! • Build Councils of Action!

• Force the Tories out! • Return a Labour government pledged to nationalization policies on the docks, road transport, the industry and the banks, basic Immediate repeal of the Industrial Relations Act! SUPPORT for the jailed dockers has flooded in, ominous despite the silence from the TUC leadership. of first The group workers to strike were the transport drivers and con- tainer workers who up to the time of the jailing, were counter-picketing. EDDIE LOYDEN, president of the Liverpool. Trades Council and a member of the T&GWU and docks waterways com- mittee, said: The government has shown its intentions quite clearly with the the dockers — it's jailing of obvious there can be no further whatsoever. What talks with it the trade union leaders should now is alerting the be doing movement for a fight to destroy the Industrial Relations Act and rid of the Tories. They should be calling for a national stoppage. MIKE BLACK, Liverpool Labour Councillor and electrician at the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board: My opinion is what is going on is the age-old struggle be- tween capital and labour. Capi- tal seeks to increase its profits by investing in new techniques that have the affect of cutting labour. down drastically on have absolutely no doubt that the call will go out from the working class and labour move- ment of Liverpol for a General Strike. I, for one, will back this move and take, part, in, it,

SUPPORT

BRIANT

DEMAND theR Some of the many delegations backing ti

CUNNINGHAM,

WALTER

dockers' leader, Hull: This is an historic struggle that cannot be lost. If we lose it, it will open the way for fascism in this country. We must re- first thing member that the Hitler and Mussolini did was to destroy the power of the trade unions. TED JOHNS, an ASTMS mem- ber at F. J. Robertson's storage and chairman of the depot Drivers' and Warehousemen's which Action Committee, launched the counter-picketing campaign: I l would hope that every worker sees this jailing as an attack on them, and acts as the lads at my depot did. We were strike alongside the out on dockers within half an hour of the news coming through from the NIRC. The jailing supersedes any internal argument we may have as groups of workers. What disagreement between was a worker and worker has now been changed into an issue against the Establishment. The Estab- lishment's the common enemy.

We have to unite.

VINCENT

FLYNN,

general secretary of the printworkers union SOGAT: The TUC wouldn't really fight

TANDON

NTAM, CROO

SUPPORTE

N

P. JOINT CHAPELS

COMMITTEE

backing the Briant men the Bill, now we've seen what the in operation. So Act means they'd better do what was agreed and mobilize the trade union movement to get rid of the Act as soon as possible. ERIC_RECHNITZ, chairman of the London Road Transport Stewards' Commercial Shop Committee of the T&GWU: There can be no dubiety in the mind of any trade unionist on this issue. Everyone should be out on strike until the dockers are released, the Act is de- stroyed and the Tory government is overthrown-although I sup- pose the last may be a little too much to hope for at the moment.

DENNY HARRIMAN, T&GWU

docker from Southampton (in a personal capacity: From the work people's point of view the jailing represents a crisis point where they have to decide whether to unite and fight this government and all it stands for, or be overawed by the situation and let the Tories' bluff force them to submit. A General Strike for a start. The writing is on the wall for the trade unions.

The first objective is to get rid of the government. BILL CHAPMAN, T&GWU shop steward at London's Royal group of docks: complete, we need is What total, 100 per cent national sup- port from every trade unionist our fight to destroy the in Industrial Relations Act. If they beat the dockers, no one else will have a chance. It's a life- and-death issue. They can haul the jailed men into court every day of the week if they like: not one of them will say anything other than that they will con- tinue the fight. EVAN JONES, Ogilvie miners" lodge secretary, speaking hours before the Rhymney joint lodges were due to meet on the South Wales coalfield: It is near certain the 38,000 miners in the two divisions will strike. I don't think we have any alternative. This is a law aimed at the working class. The pity of it is that the leadership isn't coming from the proper place.

BY IAN YEATS AND DAVID MAUDE

A MARCH by printworkers of the five-week occupation Colour Printing quickly turne of support for the dockers.

The band-led, 1,000-strong column set off from Victoria Embankment chanting: *We demand the right to work' and *We will win. About 250 men and women at Briant's Old Kent Road fac- tory have been working in for over a month in a bid to save the doomed plant from shut- down. Saturday's demonstration was backed by printers from chapels all over London, as well as delegations from the upper Clyde shipyards and Fine Tubes, Ply- mouth. By the time they reached Fleet Street, the marchers' slogans had been transformed from perspective of saving narrow Briant's into a wholesale defence of every workers' right to work.

Print workers and editorial staff lining the pavements and hanging from office windows heard march leaders say: THE TUC must rally to the support of the dockers, Bernie Steer said in a letter read out to a mass meeting of print workers in London on Saturday. The letter said: The National Industrial Rela- tions Court is taking away our right to work, but we will not be intimidated by anyone or any court." It called on the TUC to implement the resolution taken at the special con- gress at Croydon in March 1971 pledging support for unionists jailed trade under the Tory anti-union law. Mr Steer wrote: *The policy of union - bashing will not be tolerated one moment longer'.

CENTRE

PAGES

Hundreds of trade unionists mounted a mass picket over the weekend outside Pentonville jail and waved to the five men inside (inset). This followed the arrest on Friday of Tony Merrick (left centre) and Cornelius Clancy (bottom left), seen being taken into Black Marias', outside the Midland Cold Storage depot. Derek Watkins was also arrested there. Vic Turner (top left) gave himself up outside the jail on Saturday. Bernie Steer was arrested at his home on Friday.

Bottom right: The Pentonville Five. (Left to right) Anthony Merrick, Cornellus Clancy, Derek Watkins, Bernie Steer and Vic Turner orkers on Saturday in support cupation at London's Briant y turned into a demonstration *We are fighting for every workers' right to work, including printers and dockers. Stop the presses. Not one paper must be printed while the dockers are in jail.' - The 'Express-Sunday Express" machine chapel carried a special banner linking the jailing of the dockers in 1972 with the de- portation of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in 1834. At a mass meeting at Clerken- well Green, Briant convenor Bill Freeman pledged full support dockers and promised for the free printing of any publicity material they wanted. He told the rally: While we are fighting for the right to work at Briant we recognize there are much bigger struggles going on.

It is the dockers in prison today, but tomorrow it could be us at Briant Colour.' SOGAT general secretary Vincent Flynn handed over a €1,000 cheque for the work-in's fighting fund and told the cheer- audience that his union ing would pay the wages of their members involved. But there was heavy applause NATSOPA London Joint when branches spokesman Ted O'Brien called on the whole of the print industry to shut down in support of the dockers. And in a speech read to the meeting London docks leader Bernie Steer accused the National Industrial Relations Court of 'taking away the right to work".

solidarity with the Pledging printers, he called on them to stand firm with the dockers.

There were immediate shouts of "Pentonville' and instead of dispersing the demonstrators re- formed and marched to the jail chanting "Dockers in—all out*.

WHEN THE march reached Pen- pickets lined tonville, dockers' the road under the banner of the Royal docks stewards' com- and applauding. mittee, cheering. themselves re- The marchers warmly, sponded waving and shouting encouragement both to to the grilled the pickets and windows of the prison. impromptu Throughout an meeting in a side-road facing hands could be seen the prison waving and giving clenched-fist salutes through the grilles. (See picture centre pages) To the five jailed men, Royal Finn docks steward Mickey pledged from the platform: We will picket here until our men are released. If they're here three weeks, we'll be here three weeks.

three months, If they're here we'll be here three months."

The dockers' fight was not against other workers, but against cheap labour, he said. *We call on all workers all over the country to give uS their support, and when I say support I mean physical sup- port. Bill Freeman, a member of the printworkers' union

NAT-

"The Times', in- SOPA from sisted that the fight was a poli- tical one. "By tomorrow" he said, I hope every single worker will be out until we get rid of this govern- ment." It was the working people who owned the country and not the 5 percent of ponces, specu- lators and crooks' who squatted on their backs. Sammy Gilmour, shop a steward from US, reported that the Clydeside stewards had pledged that they would call out their members if any trade jailed under the unionist was Act. July 24, 1972 PAGE 3

BBC 1

9.45 Mary, Mungo and Midge.

10.00 Casey Jones: 10.25 Atten- borough and Animals. 10.50 Tin Tin. 10.55 Magic Roundabout. 12.55 Trade Unionists. 1.30 Pogles Wood. 1.45 News, weather.

4.15 Play School. 4.40 Jackanory.

4.55 Penelope Pitstop. 5.15 It's Your Word. 5.44 Sir Prancelot.

5.50 News, weather.

6.00 LONDON THIS WEEK.

6.20 ANIMALS AT HOME. Peter West visits a riding school.

6.40

THE MOVIE QUIZ.

7:05 Z CARS. A Neighbour's Goods. Part 1. 7.30

THE VIRGIN

FELLAS.

THE OLYMPIANS.

7.55 8.00

PANORAMA.

9.00 NEWS, Weather. DOOMWATCH. Enquiry. 9.20 10.10 AN HOUR WITH. (New Series.) The Liver Birds.

11.10 NEWS.

ATHLETE.

11.15 11.40 Weather.

ITV

11.35 Seven Seas. 12.25 Women.

12.50 Freud on Food. 1.15 Bell- bird. 1.25 Enchanted House. 1.35 Skippy. 2.05 Castle Haven. 2.30 Good Afternoon. 3.00 Houseparty.

3.15 Film: 'Silent Dust. 4.40 Cliff's Kids. 4.55 Clapperboard.

5.20 Treasure Island. 5.50 News.

6.00 YOU AND THE WORLD.

Up West-Part 2.

CROSSROADS.

6.20

THE DAVID NIXON SHOW.

6.40

CORONATION STREET.

7.30 8.00

WORLD IN ACTION.

LOLLIPOP. On Safari. 8.30 9.00

MAN AT

THE TOP. All Very Hush-Hush. 10.00

NEWS.

10.30

NAME OF THE GAME.

Man of the People.

11.55 ONE POINT OF VIEW.

BBC 2

11.00 Play School. 5.35 Open University. 7.30 NEWSROOM, Weather. HIGH CHAPARRAL. Follow 8.00 Your Heart. 8.50 MONTREUX 72. Music and comedy starring Marcel Amont.

TYNE SLIDES BY.

9.20

THE

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HTV

Wales as above except: 4.15 Cantamil. 6.01 Y Dydd.

HTV West above except: as 6.22 This is the West this week.

HTV Cymru/Wales as HTV Wales plus: 10.30 Sain, Cerdd a Chan.

12.15 11.15 Department Weather.

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4.10 News. Peyton place. 4.40 Cliff's kids. 4.55 London. 6.00 News. 6.25 European journey.

6.40 London. 10.30 Crime and mystery.

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Monday July 24, 197 By David Maude A member of the Jones- Aldington inquiry into the jobs crisis in the ports has launched a side- swipe against the 1947 Dock Labour Scheme- which gives dockers a partial statutory job- guarantee—on the eve of publication of the inquiry report. Sir Humphrey Browne is chairman of the British Trans- which port Docks board, controls 19 ports, including Southampton, Hull, Imming- ham, Newport and Port Tal- bot. In an interview with the BTDB magazine Docks', he attacks irresponsible' actions by scheme-registered dockers and calls for his board to be given more control over them.

He claims such control might help eliminate many of the problems plaguing the ports.

Our picture shows Jack Transport and General Jones, Workers' Union secretary and chairman of the jobs joint inquiry, at one of its opening sessions. The man next to him is Lord Aldington, who be- sides being co-chairman of the inquiry, chairman of the Port of London Authority and a former banker, is an ex-chair- man of the Tory Party. Browne's magazine inter- view, however, is given in a spirit pretty far removed from the friendly atmosphere these mustered for three gentlemen It casts con- the camera. siderable doubt on the basis agreement they of the apparently reached during later sessions of the inquiry.

The BTDB chairman says he would like to see his board take over as sole employer of dock labour at all its ports.

in- Cargo-handling is an uly 24, 1972 tegral part of port operation, he explains. Its separation from other aspects is bound to cause problems. Says Browne: *Basically I don't like monopolies, but to have a monopoly of cargo- handling is not really different from being in sole charge of the other operations at the port. The idea of bringing regi- stered dockers under the same employment umbrella as BTDB staff would clearly represent a from the major departure 1947 Scheme, giving the board powers through- hire-and-fire out. (The board itself has 10,874 3,097 of them But if registered implemented Browne's scheme would presumably apply also to the much larger number of attached to private dockers stevedoring firms operating in BTDB ports.) Browne makes two signifi- cant comments in his "Docks' interview on the thinking be- hind his proposal: "The port authority should 1 make the maximum use of assets instead of allowing stevedoring companies to use those assets free of charge* and 2 I believe we can give better service, sometimes offering comprehensive terms to port users.' The bid for more control over the dockers is thus en- tirely in line with rationaliza- throughout the tion moves ports; the intention is to push up efficiency and profits at the expense of the labour force.

Browne says he believes the main body of his staff to be concerned responsible and with the success of the under- taking. 'But', he claims, 'the board suffers from the problems of the industry as a whole, in particular the gap between Docks Board staff and the registered dock workers. Like with | Lord Top: Jack Jones Aldington. Above: Sir Humphrey Browne so many other problems with- in the docks, this has its roots in history.' What does upset him, he goes on, is the situation where there are 'two nations' within where there enterprise, one are disparities in terms of em- ployment and where the irre- dock actions of sponsible labour' can imperil the good prospects for some ports.

concluded, 'The board" , he 'cannot sustain serious losses keep some people happy to into the running without danger of making many more people unhappy. of course, is a is, All this frontal attack on members of and an Jack Jones's union the gains open challenge to won by dockers in struggle since the war. Its timing cannot be acci- employers The dental. obviously want the fate of the Dock Labour Scheme thrown the melting-pot of dis- into cussion around the Jones- Aldington report. Rank-and-file dockers, how- ever, will place no confidence in their leaders' commendation of a report agreed by such people. Sid Harraway, CP convenor at Ford's Dage militants ar e Ford already somewhat appre- hensive about the inten- tions of their leaders to- wards the pay claim which is due to start get- ting off the ground in about six weeks' time. Word had gone out from the US headquarters of the motors giant at Detroit, Michi- gan, that the fight against the 1973 pay claim must be hard, fast and if necessary dirty.

Ford of Britain executives have been busy since May try- ing to pin the blame for their £30m loss last year on the pay strike which shut down every plant in the country for ten weeks. Sir Leonard Chairman Crossland claims prodution No- lost. worth £100m was body owes us a living,' says managing director William Baty ominously. become clear in a It has whole series of recent disputes that the guiding company philosophy is: No return to 1971, lads, or we'll shut up shop. Shop-floor fears are growing that there may be trimming of sails to this wind by some union officials and convenors.

, convenors' On July 30, a meeting at Transport House, London, agreed a shopping-list of demands they want imple- mented when the present pay deal runs out next March.

These included: • A substantial pay increase (understood to mean €10 all round or parity with the high- est Midlands pay-rates, which- ever is the greater); the work- • A five-hour cut in ing week, currently 40 hours; An extra week's holiday; • Complete abolition of all • the penalty clauses attached to holidays and lay-off pay by the 1968 wage agreement; • Holidays to be paid at shift rates, rather than at present on the flat rate; and • No changes in pay or work- without prior ing practices mutual agreement between management and unions. A meeting of shop stewards from all over the Ford com- bine has been fixed to take place in Coventry on Sep- tember 10. It is here-and at a subse- meeting of works- quent ord's Dagenham week committee members a later on September 18-that the claim will finally be ham- mered into shape before sub- mission to the company. There are indications that Communist the policy of Party stewards at these meet- ings will be to propose that only the first ihree points of the shopping-list should con- stitute the claim. One man believed to be in favour of this approach is Sid Harraway, the CP convenor from Dagenham, Essex, who was removed as the convenor's national chairman last year after a row over statements he the secret- accepting made ballot settlement of the strike.

climbed back Harraway into a position of national re- sponsibility on June 30 as secretary of the convenors committee. (Les Moore, senior convenor at Halewood, Liver- pool, took the chairmanship.)

With the assistance of Jock Macrae, a fellow-convenor at Harraway con- Dagenham, veyed the impression to a recent meeting of body-plant they there that stewards thought the three-point claim would be approved. the demand for If it is, abolition of the penalty clauses for the would be put aside third year in succession.

Ford's hard line on wages this year is likely to be rein- forced by a hard line against demands for a new negotiating procedure. A sub-committee of the lay members of the Ford National Negotiating Committee, which comprises both Les Moore and Macrae, wants the pro- Jock the 1969 cedure to replace Productivity Enabling Clause' contained in the company's Blue Book of agreements with the NJNC unions. The expected company re- fusal to vary the 1969 agree- ment will probably lead to the setting of a terminal date for the clauseprobably coincid- ing with the expiry of the 1971 pay deal next March. It is conceivable that CP at stewards will argue Coventry that this move, com- bined with the three-point claim, would take care of the important parts of the con- venors' shopping list. accepted, But if this were the 1973 claim would go for- ward with still no challenge to the penalty clauses.

STUTTGART CAR WORKERS

FIGHT UNION LEADERSHIP

develop- An important ment in the German working class is revealed in a dispute now raging in one of the country's most militant factories, the huge Daimler-Benz works in Stuttgart. The dispute is between three 'Vertrauensleute' (shop stew- ards) who have been voted on to the factory council with nearly a third of the votes and the leadership of IG Metall.

the metal workers' union. It opposed their candidature and now threatens to expel them from the union. The three men, Willi Hoss (43), Herman Mühleisen (42) and Mario D' Andrea (29), have long been critical of the union leadership which they accuse of not representing their mem- bers' interests. The union officials retaliated by keeping them off their list of candidates for the factory council, although they have been shop stewards for 15, 10 and five years respectively.

The men decided to take unprecedented step of the standing without official union support.

STRAIT-JACKETS

In the elections they received 3,040 out of 11,273 of the votes, or 27 per cent, which means that if they had fielded more candidates they could have had eight of the 29 workers' seats on the council.

The factory council in Ger- many is a joint worker-man- agement body which serves as instrument of union-man- an agement collaboration against strikes. By law all members of the council are bound to represent the interests of the factory "as a whole' The union bureaucracy has co-operated with the help of this law in turning these bodies into strait-jackets on the rank and file to prevent strikes.

In practice they are the main basis for the relative class- has reigned in peace which Germany during the boom. As a reaction against this the rank and file in the major factories have set up a kind of unofficial shop stewards' movement of 'Vertrauensleute' which has, however, not achieved the The Juan Farinas De- fence Committee in the United States is launch- ing an all-out drive to se- cure Farinas' release. Farinas has been serving a two-year sentence in Dan- bury Federal Penitentiary since March 27. His imprisonment stems from framed up charges of violating the Selective Ser- vice Act at his induction in August 1968. Farinas' sole crime was to peacefully distribute leaflets opposing the Vietnam war as a class war being waged against the workers and peasants in Vietnam in the interests of American big business. The Farinas case was a poli- tical frame-up from its very inception. The government set out to punish him not for his actions, but for his stated intention of giving leadership to the working class, which is now coming into fundamental strength of its counterpart in this country. of the union The grip bureaucracy was first loosened in the autumn of 1969 when a wave of unofficial strikes swept through the engineering and mining industries leading to considerable wage increases.

Then during the engineering strike of last year there was considerable criticism particu- larly from Daimler-Benz workers of the union's policy of selective strikes. Since then Hoss, Mühleisen and D'Andrea have been deter- mined to get more control for the shop floor over working collision with the ruling class.

The political nature of the case has been most clearly re- vealed by the recent release of statistics concerning the conviction rate for draft re- sisters. These statistics indi- cate that there has been a sharp reversal in government procedure concerning draft violators. in 1967, only 10.4 While per cent of those convicted of draft violations received pro- bation, in 1971 62.7 per cent received probation. Further- more, the percentage of de- fendants who were convicted at all during the same period dropped from 75.1 to 34.8.

statistics clearly These ex- pose that the government's of Juan is in direct jailing violation of his civil rights and conditions and in particular over the speed of the track.

They decided to get onto the factory council in order to have the power to negotiate over wages and conditions (Vertrauensleute do not have this power).

COMPROMISE

The hysterical expulsion threat by IG Metall shows the fear that their class-collabor- ationist policies will be • dis- rupted by the rank and file.

If a majority of shop-floor militants get on to the factory the bureaucracy's councils constitutes excessive punish- The Farinas Defence ment. Committee will fight for his immediate release around this perspective. While Farinas has been in prison, he has taken forward the fight to construct a leader- ship among the working class To this end, he and youth, has formed a Marxist study group among the inmates to take up questions of dialectical materialism and the history of the Trotskyist movement. At a time when the govern- ment is stepping up its attack on the trade unions through the Pay Board and the courts, we urge all trade unionists and youth to take up the de- fence of Juan Farinas as part of the defence of the labour movement. Funds desperately are needed to continue a stepped- up defence campaign, as well as to aid in the suport of Farinas' wife and child. In addition, we call upon all our readers to write to Juan and inform him of your activities in behalf of his de- fence. All correspondence should be sent to: Juan Farinas 75171, Danbury Federal Penitentiary, Pem- broke Station, Danbury, Conn 06810. Reprinted from the "Bulletin' of the US Workers' League.

compromize whole basis of could be destroyed. The three men represent an important new layer of leaders the German working class.

in D'Andrea represents the highly - exploited immigrant workers in the factory who make up a third of the labour force (on the track they are er cent loss and Mühleisel were Com- both members of the Party but Party munist the does not want to know them since they voiced criticisms of the status of trade unions in Eastern Europe. expelled at the Hoss was

RUSH TO EXPLOIT

SIBERIAN OIL

Siberian oil and gas reserves have become a bait for the world's petroleum men since the Soviet government began to intimate that it would welcome co-operation from the big capitalist corporations in exploit- ing them. Already known reserves are believed to be huge and as the prospecting takes places constantly pushed up.

LUTC IS

Over half the Soviet Union's known reserves are in Siberian territory. In the Tyumen district, pro- duction is planned to reach of oil and 400 million tons 32,000 million cubic metres of gas for five-year period sne ending in 1975. Soviet The oil industry lacks the equipment, the know- how and the technicians to push production anywhere near its attainable limits. Hence the ers Press, Monday July 24, 1972 PAGE 5 Above: Willi Hoss, Mario D'Andrea and Herman Mühleisen, shop stewards at Daimler-Benz, Stutt- gart end of last year and Mühleisen is expecting his notice of ex- pulsion any day. It is the strength of the organized working class, ex- pressed in the votes for Hoss, Mühleisen and D'Andrea that is the decisive force in German society today, not the desper- ate antics of the middle-class terrorists like Baader and Meinhof who have caught all the headlines in the last few weeks. invitation to capitalist firms to come into joint ventures for the development of Siberia's immense natural resources.

capital outlays Enormous will be required to open up new oilfields as well as to develop those already in pro- duction. Pipelines are needed to shift the oil and gas to European Russia and the Pacific coast. The Soviet bureaucracy is now putting up these resources for sale to the highest bidder.

It has made a deal with the American Occidental Petro- leum Corporation, it is nego- tiating with other giant capi- talist firms and is looking for a deal with Japanese big business. In short, it is opening the way for the penetration Union on an enormous scale. This illustrates how the bank- ruptcy of the policy of 'social- ism in one country jeopardizes the relations of production established by the October 1917 Revolution.

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Monday July 24, 1972

"FIVE DOCKERS IN-EVERYBOD

0

MIDLAND

OLD STORaGE

LIMITED

DOrr

Workers Press, Monday July 24, 1972 PAGE 7

OUT!

ROYAL CROUP OF DOCKS

SHOP STEWARDS

COMMITTEE

LATSOPA

ARISE YE WORKERS

HE MACHINE CHAPE

MIDL AND

RA

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Monday July 24, 1972 The book by Roy Medvedev translated as 'Let History Judge: the Origins and Consequences of Stalinism' (Macmillan £5.75) is the first independent attempt in the Soviet Union to under- stand the Stalin era which has come out of that country. It is a damning indictment of Stalin and Stalinism which confirms Trotsky wrote about the bureaucratic everything which degeneration of the first workers' state. From the great tension under which it is written, its passion drawn from the sufferings of millions of people, is also a testimony to the fact that the October 1917 Revolution have not been conquests of the destroyed.. Medvedev writes as a communist intellectual, an oppositionist who is harassed and persecuted for his struggle to tell the truth as he sees it. His book has great merits and deserves a careful study both for what it provides in the way of corroboration for the Trotskyist analysis and what it leaves out. On some crucial questions it is fundamentally wrong and misleading. Medvedev clings to the hope that the bureaucracy will reform itself. In this he resembles the revisionists like Deutscher and Pablo. He fails to see the revolutionary alter- native to Stalinism provided by the struggle of the Left Opposi- tion. He does not accept that only a political revolution which overthrows the parasitic Stalinist bureaucracy can preserve the social and economic conquests of 1917 which he upholds. The following series of articles submit Medvedev's book to detailed scrutiny with the aim of pursuing the struggle against Stalinism to the end. It will deal in particular with his errors and omissions and point the way for a more rounded analysis which must begin with the works of Trotsky which are cited in the footriotes. Yet today, even in the Soviet

BY TOM KEMP PART 1

Union, despite some attempts By next March it will be to rehabilitate him. his name 20 years since the death is scarcely mentioned and a whole epoch of history is thus Josef Stalin of was treated in a distorted way.

greeted by the leadership In the communist parties of the world's communist outside the Soviet Union parties with tributes to similar embarrassed silence his genius as a Marxist- prevails. After a few attempts to explain away his crimes in Leninist which matched the period of 'de-Stalinization' the adulation he had re- followed which the revela- tions by Khrushchev at the ceived during his life- 20th Congress of the Com- time. munist Party of the Soviet Union in February 1956, which remained extremely super- ficial, the matter was allowed to drop out of sight as quietly as possible. Yet the fact remains that after Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin rapidly emerged as the dominant figure in the party in the and state apparatus Soviet Union. Disposing first of his opponents and then of his erstwhile allies, he ruled in increasingly arbitrary an fashion, wiping out hundreds of thousands of communists during the purges of the 1930s, to become one of the cruellest in and bloodiest tyrants history. During that period he was in the Soviet hailed both Union and in the communist parties as an infallible leader theoretical guide and and adulation which accorded an was not only foreign to the working class and revolution- ary movement, but exceeded that required even by most other dictators. His word was not only in political law matters, but in history, philo- sophy, linguistics, literature and art. Communist Party The leaders in Britain as well as other countries claimed to be Stalin's disciples and accepted completely without criticism every word which was issued from the Kremlin. Maurice Thorez was proclaimed as the leading Stalinist in France and it was implied that every other communist leader reflected something of his glory. In the East European countries each national leader was, in effect, a lesser Stalin according his own due measure of reverence and obedience. It must be said that the respect for Stalin and belief in as a great leader and him Marxist revolutionary found an among sections of the echo working class and not only those directly under the influ- ence of the communist parties.

For many Stalin, mistakenly, Top: Molotov, Khrushchev and Stalin o a May Day parade of middle-1930s. Abo personified the hopes and aspirations of the October Revolution and during World War II he seemed to symbolize the heroic struggles of the Red Army and the Soviet people upon which the masses in Europe depended for their liberation from the fascist yoke. At the same time, the acceptance of Stalin was not universal in the working-class movement by any means. If the purges and trials, the suppres- sion of opponents and the deification Stalin were accepted and approved by the communist parties and all the fellow-travellers, knowledge of d Stalin on the Lenin mausoleum during 1930s. Above: Roy and Zhores Medvedev the crimes of Stalin had pene- trated sections of the labour movement. On the one hand, the Trot- skyists in particular carried on a tireless campaign to expose these crimes and to explain politically how Stalinist policies had betrayed the revo- lution and destroyed the Bol- shevik Party. On the other hand, fear of Stalinist methods reinforced grip of reformism and the 'anti-communism' on large sections of workers, especially in countries like Britain and the USA, where the communist tradition had never been The fact that this strong.

After Lenin's death in 1924 (above), St dominant figure in the party and state app sentiment rested on a basis of truth as far as the crimes of Stalin was concerned made it all the more tragic. It was not the least of the effects counter-revolutionary of Stalinism that it divided the working class and strength- ened the reformists' hold over it. The struggle against Stalin of the and the degeneration state which pro- first workers' was carried on duced Stalin from the beginning by Leon Trotsky and • Left Opposition in Russia in the 1920s. As long as any kind of discussion and debate was possible, Trotsky and his co- thinkers exposed every step of the Stalinist betrayal. But through his control of the •of repression, instruments Stalin was able to defeat the Trotsky, leader, destroying physically all of its supporters. In the 16 years before his Stalinist assassination by a agent, first of all as the leader of the Left Opposition in exile and then as Russia an building the International Left Opposition which in 1938 was to become the Fourth Inter- made national, Trotsky a of Stalin's analysis detailed lies, crimes and betrayals. He explained in Marxist terms the social basis from which the monstrous phenomenon of Stalinism had grown. These writings are invaluable theoretical capital for all those breaking from Stalinism, as as those coming well Marxism for the first time, are searching for an who practical and explanation advice on how to fight it.

inthe The bureaucracies Soviet Union and the East countries are European mortally afraid of Trotskyism.

They are afraid of admitting that there was an alternative to Stalin's course, afraid that a disclosure full and frank past will bring to light the their own questionable origins and bring them to a rapid and terrible reckoning. That is why so many aspects of Soviet history and the his- tory of the international com- munist movement must remain a closed book or be dealt with in a way which is as full of falsification and omissions, as history written the was Stalin's lifetime. It is not surprising that there should be a strong undercurrent of dis- satisfaction with this state of affairs, particularly because the greater latitude for re- search and comment permitted for a time at the height of 'de-Stalinization' has now been curtailed. A certain amount of the based upon personal truth, experience, did go on record in the Soviet Union. Alongside it there exists a body of manu- of privately-circulated script memoirs and personal accounts. One can be sure, intimates too, that among there will be an eager audience for the personal reports of those who have come back in the from a living death camps and prisons. Stalin rapidly emerge state apparatus The reception acc Alexander Solzhenitsy Day in the Life of Ivan vitch" during the and ther thaw his other novels, " cle" and the reaction which highly significant. early huge which

DOOKS

with Soviet life in t era The whole questio Stalin era is, moreov Soviet life and whether or not it the in adequately dealt histories. The generations suffered under Stalin all died off. The purge part of living back from came prisons in the 1950s after Stalin's death. 1 stories to tell which s down written word of mouth, they may not reach organs. Even in these, the filtered through extent and in a sele one-sided manner. iration meant that of credibility remain as the trials and pu concerned. It stopped when public and the desire to full truth in guilty could be punished threatened gates whi the flood prepare the tical revolution. A desire to kno explain sure, official history silence or with an el widespread in Union. It finds exp of the the writing underground the which passes hand in typewritten cated form. Works by brothers have taken in the past. As Communist the have sought, howe their works official publishing Medvedev tried analysis of the cause sequences of Stalinis out in the Soviet Ur way: it was turned The reasons for t far to seek. Medved subscribe to the off that despite the personality, which euphemism for Stal the 'building of soci virtually shows in methodica heavy PrICe people had to and Stalinism. He c full truth to be rev the purges, the sions and rehabilitation of th He allows no wa for those plicity by or assisted Stalin's ris joined the aULO him in order To that e careers. vedev's book is dai dangerous, at any publication to be perm the Soviet Union. For, vedev could get aw what he writes, what the next author want and the one after that The minds of the crats in the publishing must have boggled. decision did not them; it must have be at the highest level as tion of state. Medvedev's book dently considered too ous for circulation in Soviet Union, both f it contains thoughts and demands provoke. Somewhere in the instructions were give publishing houses not it. It is not impossib ever, knowing how o bidden books have rea outside world, that th ly emerged as the permitted cracy facilitated its comm tion accorded to to foreign publishers olzhenitsyn's 'One an agent like ife of Ivan Deniso- Victor Louis. , the brief period Inside the Soviet and then the ban book like novels, "The First represents a threat; bi Ward' *Cancer it only confirms on which followed, generally known and There is light some fresh and uge audience for evidence. Most inter course, is the fact th deal truthfully life in the Stalin can be writt book Soviet intellectua e question of the bureaucracy may not , moreover, a part that being known, ev willing fe and experience not yet published not it is written But the very weak the books which the booK, examined later in c such as to reduce i which when circulated abro ler Stalin have not In the articles whi The purges are still the aim will be first ng memory. Many from Medvedev's acc from camps and he brings ne 1950s and 1960s Soviet Union confir s death. They have the Trotskyist analy Il which some have Stalinist degene wn or spread by secondly, to show though outh, even of his analys ot reach the official nesses correct them by bri nature of the true hese, the truth has and its social roots; limited to show how the strug in a selective and Stalinism must be De-Stalin- until it leads to the ant that no shred of the bureaucracy. ty remained as far its Whatever s and purges were Medvedev's book 1 It was, in fact, achievement great en public curiosity, working under the d esire to know the indeed dangerous that the which still Id be found and Soviet Union. It is to open its indictment of S gates which would frank and • way for the poli- denunciation of th cracy and its crime know, to be work of the what the remains a loyal So ory passes over in and member of the with an eloquent lie Party. Soviet ead in the Medvedev has r finds expression in his back on the Re , of the samizdat- 1917 or on Bolshev rground literature understands it. from hand to sought consolation pewritten or dupli- fashionable religion doctrine. He has I Medvedev refuge in the West, ave taken this form attracted by capital of st. As members Educated under Sta nunist Party they ber of the new So ht, however, to get gentsia, he has s produced by the courageously for a lishing houses. Roy Leninism. tried to have his Under the causes and con- many of the shortc of Stalinism brought errors in his bo Soviet Union in this understood. s turned down. Medvedev clings t sons for this are not thai without • Medvedev does not change, that to the official legend of methods 'cult of the gradualism, the c r, which became the of Stalinism can l n for Stalin's crimes, and the bureaucrac ng of socialism' went norms of Leninism. illy unaffected. He is on It methodical detail the above all, that we ce which the Soviet pany from d to pay for Stalin the conviction ism. He calls for the the Soviet Union, to be revealed about vedev, will soon 1 s, trials and repres- to Bolsh return complete Leninism means el ion of the victims. the ranks of the F ws no way of escape national and the a who, by their com- its programme their silence, revolution as the ( talin's rise to power part of an interna d the adulation of lutionary rder to pursue their guard and extend To that extent Med- the October Revol ook is dangerous, too

CONTINUED TON

, at any rate, for its be permitted in For, if Med. away with would what hor want to say, ..? of the bureau- publishing houses But the rest with t have been taken t level as a ques- book was evi- danger- inside the both for what for what demands it might e in the Kremlin, were given to the ouses not to touch impossible, how- how other for- s have reached the d, that the bureau- or even communication publishers through ke the notorious Union Soviet Medvedev's

SCHI

threat; but outside what own and brings to fresh and valuable lost interesting, of he fact that such a by written the intellectual may not object to ‹nown, even if it is illing to let it be of very weaknesses will which detail, are danger reduce its lated abroad. ticles which follow Il be first to show edev's account how inside the of on confirmation of the yist analysis degeneration; the weak- show his analysis and tr bringing out lature of Stalinism ial roots; thirdly, to the struggle against 10 5000 ds to the overthrow limitations, its s book remains a for one der the difficult and conditions prevail ion. It is massive in ent of Stalin. the fearless on of the bureau- But it is crime. who loyal Soviet citizen er of the Communist turned has not on the Revolution of n Bolshevism, as he has He not onsolation in some e religion or esoteric has not sought the West, nor is he capitalist society. under Stalin, a mem- e new Soviet intelli- out has come sly for a return to the circumstances, he shortcomings and book can particular, clings to the hope out a revolutionary that is to say by and reform the consequences ism can be removed ureaucracy accept the Leninism. this programme, that we part com- not without in that many like Med. learn that a and Bolshevism means enlistment in of the Fourth Inter and the acceptance of of political n as the only way, as an international revo- struggle safe- -LO

UED TOMORROW

UNCHARITABLE

TERROR RAIDS

Mr Anthony Barber may think Our man in Belfast has filed a he has his problems. But con- report on the so-called 'softly- of the British softly' policy whose those army. It compares very differ- stein. geography is somewhat rough, ently from the capitalist press 22,000) is Liechtenstein (pop. from the accounts. Apart principality on of un- the tiny shooting of a number northeastern - including a Switzerland's armed civilians border with Austria, priest and a 14-year-old girl— When the pound was floated there have been the terror raids Switzerland took last month, various Catholic housing on a series of tough measures to estates. 'hot" unwanted The Divis Flats in Belfast keep out money. have been the scene of alleged Since 1923 the two countries 'IRA attacks' on the army. Our been closely linked in a have investigator says that this com- customs and monetary union, pletely contradicts the facts.

and the principality uses Swiss The army has in fact been money. But in order to prevent engaged in unprovoked attacks funds coming unwanted on the homes of the local pop- back door the the through ulation. somewhat decided, from Swiss this statement Take uncharitably, to put Liechten- who lives in the Kate Smilie stein into the foreign category.

flats: A spokesman for the principal- *I heard a crack followed by ity said that this had caused The first was a another crack. difficulties' and urgent bullet which went through the great negotiations were opening with embedded above kitchen and and in order to try The second was Geneva the fireplace. change the decision. bullet which came another and the windown through embedded in the far bedroom

KIM

wall. I ran out of my room One place where there is no and into my father's bedroom.

surprise at the new warmth in I was absolutely terrified.

and South says the bullet could between relations Kate • the Cham- North Korea is. only have come from the army ber of Trade and Industry in post which overlooks the Divis Barcelona, that organization of checking the trajec- tory of the the bullet from fascist businessmen. tory For the past few months the and where it broken window Trade has been was embedded in the wall it Chamber came without doubt from the of copies hundreds receiving in Spanish of 'A revolutionary post. army history of North Korea' and 'A biography of the great revolu- Kim-Il-sung'. tionary leader Apparently the North Koreans think that if the fascists read the great leader's revolutionary immedi- biography, they will a few trade send off ately delegations to North Korea!

Below: Kim-ll-sung of North Korea In the Unity Flats Eamon how the Loughney showed army has adopted a policy of shooting up Catholic homes to terrorize and intimidate.

through bullet whistled through his window, went several walls before shattering on the wall over his mother's bed where she was sleeping. Eamon points out that the pre- vious day the army had wanted house. to search refused, saying they needed a They promised that warrant. would hear from them he again.

LEON TROTSKY:

Germany 1931/1932 Paperback £1.25- -cloth £1.87} Where Is Britain Going? Paperback 37}p Revolution Betrayed -cloth £1.05 Paperback 621p- Problems of the Chinese Revolution Paperback £1.12}—Cloth £1.87} Permanent Revolution : Results and Prospects Paperback 75p In Defence of Marxism Paperback 75p Lessons of October Paperback 60p Postage 10p per book, 3p per pamphlet. Order from :

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JOBS THREAT AT STEELWORKS

PAGE 10 Workers Press, Monday July:

BY IAN YEATS

Seven hundred and fifty clerical workers at Ebbw Vale steelworks, South Wales, start their fort- night's annual holiday today. They are due back on August 6 ... but the works may not reopen. The works produce 20,000 week, tons of ingot steel a is used 60 per cent of which for tinplate production. At 10,000 tons a week its production accounts tinplate for a third of Britain's total output. Unless the British Steel Corporation (BSC) management makes the white-collar workers an acceptable offer they are threatening to strike from August 6. The country's largest tin- plate users like the Metal Box Company which employs 40,000 people claims it will not be affected immediately if the strike goes ahead be- cause it has built up stocks.

nday July 24, 1972 This is likely to prove is that optimistic. The rub production of two-thirds of Britain's tinplate has already been stopped for three weeks.

STRIKE ACTION

About 1,300 men have been out since the beginning of July at three works at Trostre, Llanelli and Swansea and four smaller plants in West Wales.

Two of Ebbw Vale's three branches of the Association of Clerical, Technical and Supervisory Staff section of the Transport and General Workers' Union last week voted for strike action unless management met their pay claim in full. The secretary of the largest branch, Mr Roy Beynon, said: We have been negotiating in good faith with the steel corporation since the middle May, but we have been getting nowhere. *We have already had to negotiate with the BSC through conciliator as though we were already on strike. t Moscow Trials Anthology Paperback, 62}p

MAX SHACHTMAN:

Behind The Moscow Trial Paperback 75p

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186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG. seems as though they are more prepared to talk to strikers than to men who are working.'

Members of the branch which voted against strike action will face pickets if they attempt to go to work on August 6. Six of the union's seven branches in South Wales have now voted to strike. The seventh will vote on August 7.

Almost 4,100 men have been laid off at plants already on strike and if the Ebbw Vale management makes no new offer, a further 9,000 will be laid off there almost at once. The laid-off steelmen are clerical solidly behind the workers. The white-collar men's claim was settled in their favour when it went to arbitration, but BSC refused to abide by the decision. The manual workers are worried about how BSC might treat them in similar circum- stances. labour force in the The South Wales tinplate industry has been rationalized practic-

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ally out of existence since the BSC took over in 1946. Now the relatively poorly- paid white-collar workers are in a militant mood. BSC gave them £1.60 last May - less than half what the workers are, demanding. BSC would like to dig in its heels on the pay claim.

Despite modernization and labour cut-backs at all South Wales tinplate and steelworks, pressure on profit margins is remorseless. At the purpose-built Llan- wern steelworks, near Newport, Monmouthshire, an article in Group News the Llanwern workers of putting accuses markets in peril because of their "complacency'. In other they should work words harder.

MILITANCY

But South Wales workers are in no mood for sentiments like these. They are riding the crest of a wave of militancy as it becomes clear that only high-handed a fight will stop

S • PERIODICALS • NEWSPAPERS

The steelworks at Ebbw Vale US-style managements riding roughshod over them, will halt closures and will persuade employers to grant pay offers more in line with rises in the cost of living. Two thousand workers have been on strike for almost a fortnight at Esso's Milford Haven refinery over the sack- ing of 37 men. Two hundred building wor- kers at the new vehicle- licensing centre at Morriston, Swansea, struck last week after five labourers tried to break their overtime ban. Up to 700 building workers are on strike this week in support of the nationwide pay action. And 450 clothing workers at the Swansea factory of John Stanton Ltd downed tools immediately last week after rumours of staff cuts. Union representatives have taken the matter up, but fcel- ing is so strong that the works could stop again at any time.

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.

On Saturday July 15, Workers first in Britain to have reached Press published with the unions a story en- agreement titled "Three Scottish firms who embarked on their selec- agree to deal' which dealt with strikes campaign three tive ago to achieve a £30 reached in the weeks settlements minimum rate..." building workers' national pay Since we had no means of claim. the This article which was based checking this report at time, we published the facts as on oflicial news reports stated: •Wage increases of up to 60 we received them. We are now pleased, how- cent for 4,000 per Scottish to print a letter from a building workers have been ever, agreed in Glasgow by repre- labourer working with one of sentatives and the unions.

the firms pointing out the real *The three companies are the facts of the settlement: was the best, giving a reduc- Dear Editor • I am writing in tion in working hours. It was to you common knowledge that the protest at the enclosed article union was going to negotiate Saturday, your paper on July 15, 1972. I am employed of the for the best three, with one of the three firms although the workers were involved, as a labourer, so against it. know the true facts concern- Anyway, Cameron withdrew their offer on the eve of the ing the so-called agreement.

For a start there is no reduc- meeting, SO we got the best tion in working hours in it.

offer left which was Bett's and was a sell-out by the so-called they will negotiate a reduction Action Committee in Glasgow, in hours in 1975 when the which has the worst working agreement ends. conditions in Scotland. The Action Committee and Dundee is strong in the trade all the building shop stewards union and our city has its own are meeting to discuss what Action Committee. The action to take. Although a £30 minimum workers in this firm have one tradesmen for might be too. a victory in Glasgow or England, Also neither the city com- it's a defeat in Dundee. mittee nor the workers com- mittee in our firm had any say already had that before the in this agreement, much to agreement was signed, although the anger of the workers in it never cost the firm much as 99 per cent of the Dundee. workers There were three earn than that with agree- more ments-one from Cameron of bonus. from D. Gould, Aberdeen, Bett one Brothers, Dundee and a doubtful third from P.S. We were fighting for a B. Hay. Cameron's of Aberdeen basic rate, not a minimum.

The daily paper that leads the fight against the Tories. £20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) £10.14 for 6 months (156 issues) €5.07 for 3 months (78 Issués) If you want to take Workers Press twice a week the rates are: £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) £6.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Fill in the form below NOW and send to: Circulation Dept., Workers Press, Clapham High St., 186a London, SW4 7UG. I would like to take out a subscription to Workers Press.

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Name Address Ernest Clarke (left), President of Acto

PHOTOGRAPH BY P. J. ARKEL

Actors from a number of West End theatres plan to lobby a meeting of union representatives on Friday to demand no retreat from their wage claim for a £30 minimum weekly wage. The meeting has been called to hear a report-back from talks between leaders of Actors' Equity and the Society of West End Theatre Managers last Thursday. During the talks, the man- agers gave no indication that they were prepared to move settling the anywhere near actors' claim.

MINIMUM

WAGE

Besides the demand for a £30 minimum wage for per- formances and rehearsals, includes demands for eight weeks' guaranteed employ- ment, holiday pay and sick The AGM decided on pay. strike action if talks broke down. Friday's lobby, however, is expected to reveal grave doubts rank-and-file among many members of the union about Ernest Clarke (left), President of Actors' Equity and Gerald Croasdell, general secretary

WEST END ACTORS

PLAN PAY FIGHT

the way the union leadership is pursuing the claim. 23 strike action June was put off when union repre- sentatives accepted advice the Equity Council to trom talks with the managers. Then, a fortnight ago, it Equity was announced that had made a joint application with the theatre employers for an improved closed shop under the Industrial Relations Act. At the

AGM

union's total resolution reaffirming opposition' to the Act was The restation went three-to-two Canned majority. the Council to on to call on demand the TUC carries out its responsibilities and organize the entire trade union ment in a campaign to defeat the Act. On the basis of a previous referendum decision, however, Equity Council has gone (In ahead the LU

ICES LCL.

referendum 1,250 union mem- bers voted against registration, but 2,130 voted for.) Now the Council is to go to the National Rela- Industrial tions Court for special closed shops to cover the West End, repertory and provincial thea- tres and touring companies.

cers Press, M londay July 24, 1972 PAGE 11 asdell, general secretary Talks are in progress with the employers about similar applications for film-making and commercial television.

COMPLETE

It was these moves for an approved closed shop which made up the TUC leaders' mind last week to suspend Equity from membership. Meanwhile many actors, par- ticularly in the West End, point out the complete con- tradiction which now exists between the union's pay and industrial-relations policies.

They ask how enthusiastic- ally Equity leaders are going to press their pay demands against the employers when the same leaders are relying on the same employers for sup- port in the closed-shop application. One indication of the answer to this question came last week when stage-managers were encouraged by the Coun- cil to drop out of the claim altogether. Those taking part in Friday's lobby will no doubt hope to persuade their representatives that they must redress- the balance.

Tories plan war on IRA PAGE 12 Workers Press, Monday July 24,

BY IAN YEATS

AT A few minutes to ten on Saturday night, a key section. of Fleet Street printers struck against the jailing of five London dockers by the Tory Industrial Re- lations Court. Earlier many of them had been harangued by leaders of a 1,000-strong march by print- workers backing the occupation •of Briant - Colour Printing, Peckham, London. (See p. 3.)

By early evening, circulation vans lined the narrow roads out- side all the major national Sunday papers as drivers arrived to find empty despatch bays and silent presses. From Bouverie Street to Shoe Lane, the usually near-deserted pavements were thick with wor- kers arguing heatedly over what should be done about the dockers.

Printing time for many of the papers was as early as 7.30 and by 9.30 the Newspaper Pub- lishers" Association announced apart from the that, *Sunday Times*, *, which had managed to get a few copies off the machines, most Sunday papers had given up all hope of production.

In the event, no other papers found their way onto the break- fast table except those printed in the north. Faced with similar jobs prob- there was overwhelming lems, support for the dockers among the majority of the drivers and printers. In the past five years hundreds have closed of printing firms and small magazines and papers have disappeared as big com- bines like IPC have bought them up and rationalized them out of existence. With their own jobs fight looming and unemployment rising on all sides, few printers believe that it will be long before they too are threatened by the Tory anti-union law. Throughout the evening con- and uncertainty about fusion who was doing what about the docks left the men shifting un- easily from one foot to the other while officials of the machine room chapels wrangled Over what course to take. For many of the men the issue simple. At 9.30, while was fumed editors and executives rank-and-file over the delay, members of NATSOPA's joint chapels took the law London into their own hands. More than 600 of them left the the street and filed into warren of dark alleys which wind between the publishing houses.

In an unlit paved square be- *Sunday Telegraph' hind the hundreds of shadowy figures listened to an unofficial call for strike action. A few minutes before 10 p.m.

and a show of hands shout clinched their decision. Within minutes the meeting place was deserted, the other- wise quiet alleys alive with hurrying feet. Doors into the brightly lit machine rooms swung vacantly waiting, like the giant open presses, for a work force that did not return.

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ay July 24, 1972 A MILITARY onslaught against Republican strongholds Belfast and Derby was under preparation by army chiefs and the Tory cabinet at the week- end. Ulster's Tory supremo William Whitelaw saw leading Unionists in Belfast on Saturday and promised he would not personally meet the IRA again. He said more troops would be sent into the province and re- cruitment into the Ulster De- fence Regiment, the police and the police would be reserve stepped up. reaction He also said army would be more intensive in the future. Former Stormont deputy premier John Andrews, who STRIKES AND demonstration jailed dockers will spread thro today. mines, transport, the The industry, engineering car plants and national newspapers are the most likely to be hit.

South Wales miners' leaders have already decided to call the coalfield out. Dockers at the five South Wales ports will meet today to take and decide what action to on Friday trade unionists from all over Wales will stage a sum- mit in Cardiff to discuss the crisis. All major ports will be at a standstill today and lorry drivers' leader Eric Rechnitz predicted in the nationwide stoppages transport industry. In Liverpool the powerful exe- Trades Council- cutive of the already on record for a General Strike if trade unionists are im- prisoned, will meet this evening of campaign decide on a to action. move to- Amid this general wards a General Strike the TUC and General Purposes Finance Committee will meet in London today to work out its position on most serious challenge to the labour in the history of the trade.

union movement. Miners' leader Lawrence Daly said yesterday he would call for strike action by all unions at the TUC's General Council meet- ing on Wednesday. speaking for in- I will be by all affiliated dustrial action unions, he told Workers Press yesterday. should be aimed at *This of the securing the release this vicious dockers, defeating and forcing the legislation a General call government to Election if necessary.' He will meet fierce opposition from the right wing and moder- ate' General Council members who want to confine any action to protests and demonstration.

coalfields major On two emergency meetings will be held immediate strike discuss to action. The South Wales miners' exe- session cutive in emergency at Pontypridd yesterday decided for This will be put strike action. to a coalfield delegates' meeting on Tuesday. In Barnsley, Yorkshire, Arthur Scargill, agent for Yorkshire's 68,000 miners, said he was ex- pecting strike calls. These will be presented at an of union area council meeting in Barnsley today. delegates Yorkshire miners feel that a huge show of industrial strength from all trades unionists is necessary to secure the release of the five.

In Scotland the coalfield is closed for the summer holidays.

leader Michael But Scottish McGahey pointed out that the coalfield had already gone on record threatening strike action over the arrest of the 13 Lon- pickets. He gannet power station Scottish the miners elieved would take a similar position on

BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

headed the Unionist deputation, said the meeting had been well worthwhile'. *These are the points Ulster •.. There considers necessary are plans in the British govern- restoration of the ment normality, he said. Over the weekend the army moved into a number of areas in Belfast and of other parts Northern Ireland, arresting a total of 84 people. Many were held in custody and those who were released were branded with indelible die by the troops. In Derry, the Provisional IRA command on the Creggan estate said: *It seems certain that the army istrations in support of the five ad throughout British industry BY THIS morning the dockers* picket-line outside HM Penton- ville prison will be more than 60 hours old. The solidarity with the jailed men of those taking part is fierce; by yesterday afternoon some of them had been there, with only very short breaks, since Friday.

When Vic Turner, whom the High Court Tipstaff failed to was taken in locate on Friday, Saturday—after at 4.30 p.m. on spending several hours on the picket-line a group of dockers prison into ran part-way • entrance with him pledging "to continue the fight (picture p. 6).

being held The dockers are as civil prisoners. Their one. privilege is that they can wear their owh clothes.

But to buy more tobacco, or the jailing of any trade union- ists. In London lorry drivers' shop stewards will meet with dockers' leaders outside the Royal group docks today to propose of a committee to joint campaign organize industrial action.

drivers' Liverpool shop In stewards have called a meeting tonight to draw up a list of be main- essential services to tained if a mass meeting decides for strike action tomorrow.

Birmingham 500 main- In British-Leyland plant the giant fitters tenance at Long- bridge will meet today to decide whether to strike. The National Union of Journal- meeting in London has ists, unanimously registered its against the protest strongest Act. Ironically, Herman Roberts, former Industrial correspondent 'Birmingham Post", of the was one of the judges who ordered the arrest of the dockers. He is still a member of the union.

On the docks, London, Hull and Liverpool are already com- mitted to strike action until the five are released. Hull shop stewards met yester- day and planned a flying squad to picket any port which did not come out on strike. In Southampton dockers will hold a mass meeting today and on Teesside dockers have already threatened to stop work. YOU HAVE raised more than ever before with a magnificent total of £1,901.42. Not only is this £650 over the target, but this has come in nine days before the closes. July appeal officially is over- contribution Such whelming. We know that behind this elfort lies the desire of our readers to support the fight to bring the Tory government down.

Workers Press is your paper and it is pledged to force this ПІННІННІ is going to come in after what happened in Belfast. But we are ready. We are waiting. We will see how good our defences are.'

The Provisionals claimed re- sponsibility for the series of bomb blasts in Belfast on Fri- day which killed a total of 16 people and injured more than 100, reducing the city to a state of panic and terror. The IRA apparently planned this act of mass terrorism to force the Tories hand and pro- voke a military showdown with the army. Only two weeks previously the IRA leadership was engaged in Tory secret talks with the supremo on a permanent settle- ment' of the Ulster question.

stamps for the one letter a day they are allowed to write, they have had to agree to do cleaning work for 25tp a week. They can have only one visit a day lasting 15 minutes, where other prisoners are allowed un- limited time within visiting hours.

One of the most consistent pickets is Teddy Hedges, one of whom the two cousins against decided it the industrial court could not make orders for con- tempt. I've done exactly the same as the other lads, he told Workers but the court's trying to Press, make itself look good by not taking us. should be kidded No one What we need now is everyone out to get rid of the court and the Tories who put it there On Tyneside 20 dockers at Newcastle quay refused to un- load a 16,000 ton motorship and owners were forced to sail the leaving 200 tons of cargo behind.

The man at the centre of the controversy, Jack Jones, leader of the 1.6 million strong Trans- Workers' General and port Union said a point of "national crisis' had been reached.

He appealed for common sense to prevail so his joint report on Lord with drawn up ports *rationall, could be looked at Aldington It is due to be published to- morrow, two days before docks the delegates from all over to decide action country meet dwindling labour force the on in Britain's ports. Jones said he hoped the re- port would be accepted as a settling contribution towards the problem. however, will call Militants, on their leader to act on the resolution passed at the union's policy making-biennial delegate conference last year. This in- the executive to take structs strongest possible action the should sanctions be imposed on any member under the Act.

Dockers maintained their 24- hour picket of Pentonville jail last night and this morning they will hold a mass lobby outside the National Industrial Relations Court in Chancery Lane, London.

government to resign. It is to this cause every penny of the July Fund will go. As we still have some time left to the end of July, can we £2,000? push up the Fund to Let's try and show our class enemies how determined we are to fight them to the end. Send all donations to: Workers Press July Appeal Fund, 186a Clapham High St, London SW4 7UG. The terrorist action in Belfast, like the secret talks with White- law, demonstrates the total poli- tical bankruptcy of the IRA's reactionary nationalist leader- ship. The Belfast bombings have strengthened the Unionist right and given the military an oppor- tunity to escalate enormously the repression in Ulster under the guise of hunting down ter- rorists. Whitelaw and Defence Mini- ster Lord Carrington yesterday Edward met Prime Minister Heath to report on the latest army actions. Heath and his ministers also met army top brass to co- ordinate the plans for further action against the so-called 'no go' areas. THE SUPPLY road linking South Vietnamese troops outside Quang Tri with their base area around Hué was cut at the weekend by North Vietnamese advance units.

The North Vietnamese have built bunkers along the side of the road and on Saturday they destroyed at least two trucks as they tried to speed past them.

The road block, 17 miles north of Hue, was attacked by tanks, aircraft and artillery as the Saigon command tried desperately to keep its supply route clear.

The North Vietnamese action has severely hampered traffic on the road and threatens to cut off the 20,000-strong South Viet- namese from its rear areas.

The task force is bogged down outside Quang Tri, which is held by crack North Vietnamese troops in strongly fortified positions. A similar tactic was used by the liberation forces earlier this year in the battle for An Loc, the provincial capital 60 miles north of Saigon. At An Loc, the South Vietnamese forces lost thousands of men in their efforts to keep the road open. Saigon sources reported that liberation troops are withdraw- ing northwards from the coastal Binh Dinh province to reinforce around Hué and other units Quang Tri. They said the struggle in this politically the would be area most important of the campaign.

Government moving troops cautiously back into the coastal province reported that most of the young men had left with the liberation units to undergo train- ing in guerrilla warfare.

will be looks like they coming back and causing trouble for some time to come,' one puppet officer said. The Saigon command said its troops were meeting little resist- the Binh in reoccupying ance Dinh province, which was a Viet Minh stronghold during the war with the French.

MR REGINALD MAUDLING,

who resigned as Home Secretary last Tuesday in connection with the Poulson affair, said in a state- his Essenden, Hert- ment from fordshire, home yesterday: I am consulting my solicitors with a to taking immediate pro- view ceedings in respect of the "In- article in this morning's sight" "The Sunday Times"! The article is about the Real Estate Fund of America. THE NIXON administration has American the forecast that substantially trade deficit will exceed $2,000m (E800m) this year.