Workers Press no. 1017

workers press

PROVOCATION

BOOK NOW FOR SUNDAY'S PAGEANT—

NEW EVIDENCE that th situation on their own ter aimed at striking rail driv made it clear that the gov drive wages down. He called on the middle class to whip up the campaign against the drivers who are fighting for a living wage and warned that the govern- ment would do nothing to avert confrontation. *Those who have been ready to wield the big stick have won quite enough struggles I don't think they should win this one,' he warned. This was a challenge to the ASLEF leaders who yes- terday maintained their futile call for talks over a £3 pay claim. It is quite clear, talks or no talks, that the government will allow no pay increases beyond the pittance offered in Phase Two. The Peyton declaration follows Chancellor Barber's Budget speech which made it quite clear that the Tories were out to destroy all re- sistance in the trade union movement to government dictatorship over pay. The provocation is now quite open. Everyone knows that it is the Tory government which has promoted this situation of unprecedented conflict.

THE TORIES drove prices up by devaluing the pound and allowing increases to all the biggest monopolies. THEY have cut wages under the Phase One and Phase Two of their policy of state pay control. The aim now is to work on sections of the backward working class and the middle classes who waver between Tory and Labour. The gov- ernment hopes that these forces will provide it with some semblance of support for a pogrom against every working-class family in the land. Meanwhile the same appal- ling cowardice is demon- strated every day by the trade union leaders. Yesterday the gasmen's executive decided against escalating their strike-this is after some of their mem- bers have been on strike for over seven weeks. They say they have come to some arrangement with the Gas INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • FRIDAY MARCH 9, 1973 ® No 1017 DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

AS RAILMEN STRIKE

NEW TORY

NEW EVIDENCE that the government is provoking a General Strike terms was revealed yesterday. In a broadcast aimed at striking rail drivers Tory Transport Minister John Peyton not abandon its attempt to Board over supplies. would WUSTOn. Darre are the antics mobilize all the working hese leaders who are backpedall- class political action ing the fight trom against the enemy away main Every gas worker in Britain the Tory government. knows that the ments' the root Such a sten would be an not dIC enormous political experi- welr alsoute.

DUL

Ene for They workers. government ban on their £4

CHICC

would be claim. dependent. itical force.

TUC,

The too, continues this The TUC right wing says sucical game

COE

DrO test and refuses to engage in that such a showdown could battle the main defeat of the enemy launching indefinite elec- General Strike action. Party Labour tion. deci- act if ensure to First the unions sivly to bring the govern- the brought KOYCEEmCHE ment down, of course, helps down, it would be to the advantage of the wor- une lones soread more and more confusion among the king class ranks. Workers would leap for- Yet confrontation at ward confidence and this place stare would take COSMOUSIeSS

WIL

in the most favourable nessed that their action had circumstances for the wor- inflicted political king class. on the class Cereal In the past workers have Workers always learn ten been sectioned off into more from a political times strikes over pay which were struggle than a wages gat.

seen Dalues dividual employers. Secondly the working would is no class not suffer a But now WHere

RALLY AND PAGEANT-THE ROAD TO WORKERS POWER.

• CONCERT WITH ELLIS JACK BRUCE ALAN PRICE

MANCH I SPM

The hoarding outside the Empire Pool, Wembley, announcing this Sunday's rally.

• No 1017 •

DAY MARCH 9, 1973

TTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABO

BY

STEPHEN JOHNS

decisive defeat if Labour lost an election. The Tories would still have the working class to deal with and it would be a stronger working class with no illusions about its strength and power. In such a political situa- tion the conditions would be ideal for the building of a mass revolutionary party to defend the basic demo- cratic rights and lead the working class to power. In this struggle the his- tory of the working class is decisive. It teaches that rights are things. not abstract They were fought for by millions of working men over 200 years. Now that same fight de- mands a revolutionary over- throw of capitalism. On Sunday thousands of workers who come to the "Road to Workers' Power' Empire Pageant at the Pool, Wembley, will have an opportunity to join this historic struggle and deliver a decisive blow against the Tories.

ROAD TO WORKERS POWE

JACK BRUCE ALAN PRICE

TICKETS 61

g this Sunday's rally. 4p

T LABOUR LEAGUE

JOE GORMLEY AND THE GENERAL STRIKE

The miners' leader talks to Workers Press - See page 11 TWO CAR bombs went off in central London yesterday and four others were defused. The blasts can only serve the interests of the Tory government and its attempt to whip up middle-class hysteria against the unions. For weeks Workers Press has been the only to warn of these impending dangers.

paper Whether they like it or not, those responsible for the blasts are playing into the hands of this reactionary government. It should be remembered that at the peak of the fight against the Industrial Relations Bill a bomb went off at the home of the then Employ- ment Secretary Robert Carr.

A similar bomb blast in Dublin last December -which showed the hand of British intelligence —was used to stampede through parliament a viciously repressive Bill against Republicans and the working class. Only two weeks ago Cabinet minister William Whitelaw likened trade unionists who are strik- ing for more pay with terrorists' in Northern Ireland. And this week two other members of the Heath Cabinet, Anthony Barber and John Pey- ton, also talked sinisterly about 'extremists' in the country. This time the blasts are being used to in- timidate gasmen, hospital ancillary workers, civil servants, nurses and railwaymen who are in the fight against the government's state pay laws.

There are a large number of unexplained ques- tions about the bomb incidents: Although the police inferred it was the work of Irish *ter- rorists, the Official and Pro- visional IRA have both denied responsibility. • After the first bomb was found outside Scotland Yard- a staggering 150lb of gelignite -the Yard issued a statement saying: We wish to put out appeal about the an urgent danger of car being bombs found in the central London

POWER.

area." • What made the police think more would be found? • How did they know that others were still placed in the area? Workers Press also had a curious exchange with a har- assed Press officer at the Yard.

We asked if any group had claimed responsibility for the We haven't attributed it blast. to anyone yet", he replied.

But Robert Carr, the Home Secretary, wasn't. He told the House of Commons yesterday afternoon that the police had been wor- king in anticipation of bomb blasts to mark the border poll in Ulster. But he gave no in- dication at all of how he had reached this conclusion.

workers press

PROVOCATION

BOOK NOW FOR SUNDAY'S PAGEANT—

NEW EVIDENCE that the situation on their own ter aimed at striking rail driv made it clear that the gove drive wages down. He called on the middle class to whip up the campaign against the drivers who are fighting for a living wage and warned that the govern- ment would do nothing to avert confrontation. "Those who have been ready to wield the big stick have won quite enough struggles-I don't think they should win this one,' he warned. This was a challenge to the ASLEF leaders who yes- terday maintained their futile call for talks over £3 pay claim. It is quite clear, talks or no talks, that the government will allow no pay increases beyond the pittance offered in Phase Two. The Peyton declaration follows Chancellor Barber's Budget speech • which made it quite clear that the Tories movement to government dictatorship over pay. The provocation is now quite open. Everyone knows that it is the Tory government which has promoted this situation of unprecedented conflict.

THE TORIES drove prices up by devaluing the pound and allowing increases to all the biggest monopolies. THEY have cut wages under the Phase One and Phase Two of their policy of state pay control. The aim now is to work on sections of the backward working class and the middle classes who waver between Tory and Labour. The gov- ernment hopes that these forces will provide it with some semblance of support for a pogrom against every working-class family in the land. Meanwhile the same appal- ling cowardice is demon- strated every day by the trade union leaders. Yesterday the gasmen's executive decided against strike—this escalating their is after some of their mem- bers have been on strike for over seven weeks. They say they have come to some arrangement with the Gas

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • FRIDAY MAF

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE O|

that the government is provoking a General Strike own terms was revealed yesterday. In a broadcast ail drivers Tory Transport Minister John Peyton he governmen t would not abandon its attempt to Board over supplies. illusion. A battle would These are the antics of mobilize all the working leaders who are backpedall- class in political action away ing from the against the main enemy Every gas worker in Britain the Tory government. knows that the Such a step would be an ments' are not at the root political enormous expen- of their dispute, They ence for workers. government ban on their £4 would be an in- claim. 'itical force. dependent The TUC. too, continues this suicidal of The TUC right wing says game pro- that such a showdown could test and refuses to engage in to the defeat of the battle with the main lead enemy General Strike action. launching indefinite Labour Party in an elec- tion. This failure to deci- act First if the unions sivly bring the govern- to the brought government ment down, of course, helps down, it would be the to the Tories spread more and great advantage of the wor- the more confusion among king class. ranks. Workers would leap for- Yet a confrontation at ward in confidence and this stage would take place consciousness having wit- the most favourable of nessed that their action had circumstances for the wor- inflicted a political serious king class. defeat on the class enemy.

in the past workers have Workers always learn ten been off into sectioned a political times more from strikes over pay which were struggle than a wages fight.

battles seen as against in- dividual employers. Secondly the working now there is no class would not suffer But

CONCERT

WITH - ELLIS

• JACKE

MARCH 11- 3pm he hoarding outside the Empto Pool, ng this Sur • No 1017 •

DAY MARCH 9, 1973

TTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABO

BY

STEPHEN JOHNS

decisive defeat if Labour lost an election. The Tories would still have the working class to deal with and it would be a stronger working class with no illusions about its strength and power. In such a political situa- tion conditions would be ideal for the building of a mass revolutionary party to defend the basic demo- cratic rights and lead the working class to power. In this struggle the his- tory of the working class is decisive. It teaches that rights are things. They not abstract were fought for by millions of working men over 200 years. Now that same fight de- mands a revolutionary over- throw of capitalism. On Sunday thousands of workers who come to the 'Road to Workers' Power' Pageant at the Empire Pool, Wembley, will have an opportunity to join this historic struggle and deliver a decisive blow against the Tories.

ROAD TO WORKERS POWE

JACK BRUCE - ALAN PRICE

TICKETS £1

in this sunday's rally. 1017 • 4p

T LABOUR LEAGUE

JOE GORMLEY AND THE GENERAL STRIKE

The miners' leader talks to Workers Press- See page 11 TWO CAR bombs went off in central London yesterday and four others were defused. The blasts can only serve the interests of the Tory government and its attempt to whip up middle-class hysteria against the unions. For weeks Workers Press has been the only of these impending dangers.

paper to warn Whether they like it or not, those responsible for the blasts are playing into the hands of this reactionary government. It should be remembered that at the peak of the fight against the Industrial Relations Bill a bomb went off at the home of the then Employ- ment Secretary Robert Carr.

A similar bomb blast in Dublin last December —which showed the hand of British intelligence was used to stampede through parliament a viciously repressive Bill against Republicans and the working class. Only two weeks ago Cabinet minister William Whitelaw likened trade unionists who are strik- ing for more pay with terrorists' in Northern Ireland. And this week two other members of the Heath Cabinet, Anthony Barber and John Pey- ton, also talked sinisterly about 'extremists' in the country. This time the blasts are being used to in- timidate gasmen, hospital ancillary workers, civil servants, nurses and railwaymen who are in the fight against the government's state pay laws.

There are a large number of unexplained ques- tions about the bomb incidents: • Although the police inferred it was the work of Irish ter- rorists, the Official and Pro- visional IRA have both denied responsibility. • After the first bomb was found outside Scotland Yard— & staggering 150lb of gelignite the Yard issued a statement saying: We wish to put out an urgent appeal about the danger of car bombs being found in the central London

POWER.

area. • What made the police think more would be found? • How did they know that others were still placed in the area? Workers Press also had a curious exchange with a har- assed Press officer at the Yard.

We asked if group had any claimed for the responsibility blast. 'We haven't attributed it to anyone yet, he replied.

But Robert Carr, the Home Secretary, wasn't. He told the House of Commons yesterday afternoon that the police had been wor- king in anticipation of bomb blasts to mark the border poll in Ulster. But he gave no in- dication at all of how he had reached this conclusion.

Americans spell out trade war intentions PAGE 2 Workers Press, Friday March 8, 1873 LABOUR MPs who are demanding the removal of Mr Andrew Faulds from the Opposition Front Bench are not going far enough.

Faulds, who was one of the two sponsors of the Labour renegade Dick Taverne when he rejoined the Commons on Wednesday, should be expelled from the Labour Party immediately.

OBE, TD, DL,

Richard Crawshaw So should who was MP for Toxteth, Liverpool, Labour Taverne's other sponsor, and who said of him: a good man. If the Labour Party was 'He is comprised of people Iike him we should not have to worry.' Both Faulds and Crawshaw are fervent supporters Tory Party's Common Market policy.

of the Both voted with the Tories for EEC entry on October 28, 1971, when 69 Labourites trooped into the Tory lobby and a further 20 abstained.

a former Lieutenant- Crawshaw is a barrister, Regiment and Colonel the Parachute IS in described in the 'Daily Telegraph' as 'a distin- Territorial officer and well-known guished Labour rebel. 2 1964-1966 Labour government, when La- In the bour's majority fell to three and Harold Wilson was out of the country, Crawshaw voted with the Tories against Labour's proposal to abolish the Territorial Army and brought the majority down to one. One Labour MP said yesterday: 'Crawshaw claims to be a man of principle, but unfortunately his principles always seem to conflict with the needs of the working class.' This MP pointed out that when there was a three-line whip for a series of votes against the Industrial Relations Act, Crawshaw took for a well-publicized walk around himself off Aintree racecourse in aid of charity.

Andrew Faulds, Opposition spokesman on the arts, is a member of Equity, the actors' union. Under laws, Equity not only had the Tory state pay a £5 increase stopped but a further £7 already taken back. There is over 90 being paid was per cent unemployment among Equity members and some earn scarcely more than £200 a year.

Yet Faulds collaborates with the Tories and with renegades in the House of Commons. The Par- liamentary Labour Party is becoming more and and Labour more remote from Labour voters Party members who are treated with increasing contempt. The social composition of the PLP is predomi- middle upper-middle Jenkins, leader of the right wing, was described in the 'Daily Express' as follows: 'In the drawing room of a great foreign embassy enthroned on a sofa surrounded by members of the post-war jeunesse-dorée (gilded youth) sat a plump and balding figure.

In his mouth was a large cigar. This he would frequently wave about with expansive gestures. He looked like a caricature of capitalism. The actor was Roy Jenkins.' The Labour Party does not belong to such people.

It was created by the working class and its trade unions. These right-wingers must be They are open collaborators with driven out. Toryism nestling within the ranks of Labour.

As Alec Dodswell, a T&GWU docks delegate and Toxteth vice-chairman the Constituency Labour Party, said yesterday, their behaviour to the working class and the affront 1S Labour Party'. The right-wing ranks extend beyond the pro- Marketeers. For example, Mr Peter Doig of Dundee West, a T&GWU member spoke up in parliament in support of the introduction of emergency powers by the Tory There are about 100 MPs in the PLP who are today prepared to side openly with the Tories on major issues against the working class. Many of them-like Taverne himself-were active in the for Democratic Socialism, Campaign Gaitskellite fifth column set up in the Labour Party to work for the overthrow of the deci- sion of the 1960 Labour Party Conference which called for unilateral nuclear disarmament.

These people must be driven out of the ranks of Labour. The only way to do this is to expose every act of collaboration and demand that its from perpetrator be immediately expelled the as part of an intensified fight Labour Party against the Tories. This is urgent now because these collaborators are the conscious standard-bearers for any future They would unite with coalition government. the Tories against the working class if it be- to establish a Bonapartist came necessary dictatorship. The right-wing, pro-Tories must be driven out of the Labour Party immediately and new members selected to replace. them in parliament on the basis of their pledges to fight for socialist policies. Federal the Japanese Dr Arthur the

FRENCH

and German together with and strong US delegation, to Reserve Board said in reply to are due Ministers stayed away yester- International tions anuse take part. in Washington Finance day from the meeting of Com.

The French and German attitude that he opposed an immediate surcharge mon Market Finance Minis- to yesterday's meeting demonstrates their contempt ior the terms which he added: 'I don't want to rule ters in Brussels to discuss the Tory Chancellor Anthony Barber is a surcharge out ... three to six months international monetary crisis.

from now I may feel diferentiy.

seeke oo ocrl Barber wants British Burns warned in a joint EEC Hoat con- make conule ene The French Finance Minister, Valéry Giscard val tai valivl d'Estaing, was 'some (nO OI acestance

COLICI

Hilalvl supposedly electioneering while Common Market members of complete among TROSe n octe. Helmut Schmidt, and unlimited responsibility main- of dollars his German whick torceo Tie markets last week. closure of mones counterpart, was "ill'. bankers attacked the buropear American s ce ecamon urte Both will be attending the Paris are spelling out in advance their deter- for complacency, meeting tomorrow at which all the continue the trade war and had toured European capitals in January lillaliul lu Common Market Finance Ministers, urgency about he had found no sense pauperize buropcan Tarle mouclaly and a the system nene of controls that effectiveness allalll devll sense'. United States tarif The has issued comssiol figures Whie! demonsuate the impossibility of control- of 'hot movements ARAFAT, leader the and ling the

YASSIR

a88a8 dis- the Palestinian guerrilla Sination hostages, money volenly Fatah'. the relations between 'AI Included US has WOVCmel

WIT•

currencies. sador Cleo Noel and his accusea sudanese •resideni Jafaar Numelry and Jordan's deputy Curtis Moore. The commission estimates Hussein fuelling King Black September Taà e dcnd ozva! US wipe sector as a whole controlled Can colel • eniine out the Palestinian resist- ing the release from tnto19tm funds at the ance. Jordan of Abu and . worth a total o wake of the assassina- 16 other Palestinian fighters L0oJUUi. Was ecld tion diplo- who were captured Tinsee Maestern mats credit in Khartoum, the Jordanian forces and circulation and Sudanese dictator has ban- marlly condemned to death. Britan France mre ume l com Germany and Belgium. caleaunet ine sudanese regime nal activity on his terrl- given every indication to min•o The sum involved is more American backers tory thi three times the than Numelry claimed the eightp GOuretss currency gold iorelgi Fatah for executed. was responsible reserves or Tre mouSse e!

currencies and well over total of world re- twice the Commission's SerVe report adds: "These are very large num- They should lay to rest bers. the any doubts tha zoon vove are cvad ONE of the released American prisoners of war generating (money) flows that could normal disrupt held captive for six years in North Vietnam has • a vel. relaulonsuld. spoken out against American involvement in among countries ... 'A movement mere the war. cent, $2,700m is per sufficient produce Major Flesher, captured when his, fighter

CULE

international BrCi-Casc plane was shot down in 1966, said: financial crisis.' The thing leading American 1. Poli. only missing People ike to compare from the [the Vietnam war] with the commentator, trom the report, as Tical Us onth- Stone, predicts sharpened olone exposes ure Group ce oer mons 1940s when the US inter- character with- the of Ten, viable Fro. struggle in the south. In any vened against Germany, 'New alawal wnen contaues pusal deal with this 8 issue VLa CI LI t they are entirely maintain 'offshore and on Dut York Review of Books' he situal on different. Adolf Hitler was bases huge air and wanteS. The figures make it abun.

armada ready for re countries invading with ocd dantly clear that the financial 'The toward foreign There were point neweo muervenao. crisis is far beyond the

LOOS.

Meanwhile, he says, Thieu con third Indo-China war. no foreign troops in Viet- They allv fullclialloldi has been kept in power with nave capitalist and нн oer coæ ccc autnority since we wipe out lorcea ine oTneT and the people that were whatever measures are taker side to the Thieu re the opposition and the north accept following this week's round in our camp. are back to 1954, We has been forced into a cease speaking, mneemd

•COI

setu t •Generally fire bv the Soviet Union and anol uraced Deens nothing. said; it conflict be- like something out China to further their plans was Hindu legend about Co-operation witou the vand counter-revolution At the most they can buy tween the Vietnamese peopl a little time like it or eternal recurrence. not, should been decide. theirs more zd „oe oecce cocc to realize this. 'Many of us Came lo ve possibly lievc that we. had únæe ovv ọser co dc body else's business.' In Paris, Dinh Ba Thi, oi the Provi- Icorcoculalive THE sale of US techno- and trade surplus. This and the activity the sona nevo laonarv covers.

would be total disaster.'

urgent to foreign countries multi-nationals ment, accused Saigon logy The Senator estimated portance and reveals basic of systematic. administration has been sharply criticized the world technology that contradictions ll

CADOII

violation of the ceasenre. He by thẹ protectionist-; capitalism coula add 910,00um „e TO Tn f roe olus aiming to sald that ft was

:AFL-CIO

current trade deficiț. The As Biemiller pointed out minded trade liquidate physically dealings the currency by Senate panel is robbing th thousands of unions: the political multi-nationals acr vitiec mut natce weaker prisoners nelo ln uge sovuo Their spokesman, Andrew companies with view to dollar and increase the High-level talks to break balance of deficit Kiemitier. Tee legislation intended cut payments the deadlock in sale of an entire Thor-Delta

COWI

mnen in vestmenl omoted ranKIull political future over une rocket system to Japan abroad banker who contended that vietnam are not expectea to The the speculative funds wel Glcencer

DUTC

trade unions claim begin mid-March. US-designed warplanes. He that the which Saigon sove2 pourec West Under the January seling said of the that the sale branch plants in foreign Germany (recent week. deasene oe would mear by US multi- from US multi rocker svsten countries ment and the Provisional $100m in profits for Mr- nationals. US firms, he said Revolutionary government nauonds

COSIS

Amencal Donnell-Douglas and its workers their jobs. The National are

DUTEINS

pronts Canea were L scl companies deny this and so of patriotism'. sud-contactors. Council Keconculaton quoted Richard and Concord was soedkle lar luc dumums allol secilis South Vietnam Senate panel which showed support sale Thomosor Johnson's elections, them 1 ne with his of the Thor-Delta system Wax who said: sympathy case. within 90 davs 'We don't believe in gam- No progress has been • Ribicoft said: " be to apan was negotiated b Denatol and bling made along these lines, lieve that what Mr Biemiller the government. aralnst une condr. pointing out is that The growing with assets in Germany and is still going we heavy ighting , we made a handsom the Japan on a number areas, gives 1n.

DOCENS

ol cx our 'high technology' profit.' technology especially around Quang Tri porting export the

Markers Press, Friday March 9, 1973 PAGE 3

PAGEANT DIARY.

102900

NORTH-EAST

The Road to Workers Power Brass band miners proud of their history

COLLIERY

BOLDON

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

'But the General Strike in our favour went Band will be at the Em- and -about two to three ster was born in the work and we went back. We went Pool Sunday. wouldn't pire The coal owners house. He was self- Oll worse Terms spend money taking the educated and brought him- And when Boldon plays, on we were offered at the start.

the whole of the pit is horrible.

LO D

sell KRowiedee was seam. After nationali- struggle, not those the Sike represented, according to 'The unions mean every- you got and born with who are thing. band chairman Ned Dine. feet but was a 'time everything.

LOL.

scallis. my youth when it was just Boldon was the first Ned and the rest of the bare existence little food this greed for coal. in Britain to get baths. liery boys will be down ana very lew clotnes, now- But things steadily Wembley were records to play during ing like this now. erik 1925 it stayed out The that improving the episode celebra- Was 37 mo of 'Never again should this out strong -everyone was in the ted their own history happen. there ques- montas the martvrdom "This was the most bitter tions, was automatic. unis is way mimers take of William Jobling and the that can their history very seriously.

dispute remem- days Was TRe building said Ned, ot the pit- father that the union ber,' 'the It is always the

HISI

my memory union in was built, solidarity were trying make con- Durham. men's the in the speeches to the time.

Was ditions and pay worse and accounted for by the hard- past and that we changed I think this Pageant is the miners came out. ness of the times. them. meant to be good,' Ned told It was either them 'Nationalization or us 'We lived the helped me in his miner's cottage soup, there The union no middle road children had no boots and things forward was just a stone's throw from with the pit owners. the women tied to fought all the time for We would not the i for 46 Yeese he where better wages and conditions.

'Many a great man came the fireside. worked for out sive Miners even pawned get nowhere interested in oI ine от Ine we but we still it movement. Lord Lawson, the the The fight is never enough. because stoma area who became a Labour Mini- Co-operative Society. we all come from and lived Ovel. in and struggled in. From trade Dine ex-collier, shows the wage records of view will be a to eat Boldon pit. Boldon miners' will The brass Dale let occasion—a chance be playing at the Pageant on sunday.

all those people in London taking part Hepburn, the miners" leader see how the miners began during the struggles of 1830, when the first union their struggle. Ned has always been care ul to preserve what utte history is available to the Tory grants He has pitmen. written the long list of deaths at the pit, starting with thể boy found killed bottom of the shatt in 187 budget a when mines began pro- duction. 'No one claimed the body.

To re- Inis the fraud'-NUS mains un-named - he was waif, said Ned. probably a people were killed eireptional number. in 1880 at Boldon- - not

THE TORY

government has been Seaham were lost, 168 at West Stanley in holding back allocated for money and 83 at Easington 1909 student grants and relying on parental 1931. 'When I started in 1923 contributions to money, save some could only be des- things National Union of Students' president Wages terrible. were 9s 5d for me crista and the Digby Jacks claimed yesterday.

had won hall before i were eight Jacks claimed that the government's budget for student grants was fraudulent. aown to te pit. The Boldon Colliery Band with Ned Dine leading in Boldon village.

"The seam was very low 'We are told that there is no money avallabit Increase student grants,' said Jacks. 'Yet Grants occupation by LSE students settlement student made grants Was £76m

SUND

allocated - and large has that been portion

BY OUR OWN REPORTERS

and the Rent strike students are verneat doc. Intend spend it. But thrifts had from ted THE LONDON School of Economics was under rising from being victimized-claim means test ov wice Darents are occupation yesterday by students who are fighting forced. to towards their and daughters' up- the government for higher grants.

line with their

ACCU

alllild and to a group of gasworkers Income. Inus, said Jacks, parenta About 530 students at the contributions have seerno subDone They have pickets LSE are under threat of evic- sent for Colour and Briant plans have some budgeted monev. tion from the halls of resi- save laid to help that two disu

OCCA

rentorce backs pointed

OUT

dence because they workers and were happening to ancillary things London teachers dividual students™ rent strikes. pay whose grant struggles. means-lested tael parents The union meets again this income. Either the parents have made afternoon to decide what finding the the extra further action should be taken.

Stirling sit-in stalll Now DOCKeN Yesterday money which the government, DicKels were blacce doors of lecture rooms and over suspensions according to its own figures, had at the provide the une nonara or olluscu did receive union reported 'very good student from the majority of AT STIRLING University stud- money at all and had to exist ents yesterday continued reduced grant or on a massively occupy the administrative build.

cave up or a studies. He also said that 'progressive' protest against victimiza- Jacks' ao in amenta be con. tion of union clusion to these relevations was stan nanot conne

STO

WORK

expression of sympathy with The that means-testing president, Linda Quinn, out the campaign. John should be 11 the secretary. wavenDore government intended to keep it have been suspended for four 530 been The students have months for taking part in then it should stop claiming.

thạt withholding since the their meeting at which plans were dis- the neginning ot In lie micce protesting against the cussed Tor saving Dy Inal system! week Sir Walter Queen's visit last The result of Jacks' and the the LSE director, sent Students on the steps yesterday. Miss •We Communist Party's mealy- want a they

COL

to the Tory went over the head halls residence. public inquiry to be ot the kent carnica our would not stay Strike Committee. The ednesday A spokesman for the students' person acceptable to aovernment i ov in use eno in their rooms during the holidays said the

LSE

was part students and university authori- lead to the defeat of the students union be and they would allowed occubaLion occall it is ties campaign as night to Show That wel wil nol woe mont deanst ure covemnnent s next term unless they Daid BaCK that Heath allow to be victimized'. 'wage freeze' policy. Delegates About 500 students are taking their rent. Committee Briant Colour part in the occupation and staff and company can be 'pressurized' the may been Ll Coal into changing their minds.

the Old Kent Road were yesterday sent home.

In sending the letter, Adams of the

THECRISISEA

PAGE &

Workers Press, Friday March 9, 1973 THE TORY government is relentlessly pursuing its plan for a con- frontation with the working class. Each day new sections of workers are forced to become criminals — under Tory law - to defend their standard of living against government-inspired soaring cost of living. Large sections of these workers openly acknowledge that the only answer to their fight to maintain a decent standard of living is a General Strike. That is, the creation of the industrial and political conditions which will force the government to resign.

This can only In its place must be elec- be guaranteed. banded and fully e be by breaking the grip secrets ted Labour government rone of the of capitalist ownership on the which is pledged by the mass tration in this published. All righ Employed and un- action of the working class to economy. employed must unite to insist bly, free speech ar implement socialist policies.

Labour must be guaranter We say 'pledged to socialist tionalizing the main industries policies' knowing that the pre- and banks, under workers' 5) The right to a' sent leaders of the Iahour move- control and without compen- dard of living ment have no intention of intro- sation. ducing living standards such policies. Indeed, The struggle begin them analysis some unionists, but The of now. No closures, no sackings, will be prepared to join a coali- which LeIs must be the policy of the trade tion government with the Tories The first step mus to head off the working class.

Occupation fac- unions. propriate all the gr But if the working tories threatened with closure, class of the rich, fight to bring strong enough to force the Tonies part of the Stock Exchange, control over all m out, it is strong enough to deal down the Tories. with the traitors its

GAT

capital in and midst. This can only be achieved 3) The democratic right to by, exposing them in the fight for strike and to organize in trade Nationalization alternative socialist poncy.

organized unions. Only the industries and of a Central Committee of the working class man- panies. banks. buil Socialist Labour League calls kind of the historical out surance societies the working class sup- Every and right every port the following policies to the resources the gain won by the working class, unite working class plan improve every democratic right in Bri- Wilson-Feather and the present standards of the w lories leadership of the has tain, won because hAAM Workers' control of the labour movement. organized strength of well the as Here is the policy which the the and the strike inıonc ized industries, next Labour government must weapon. in the interests of be forced to carry out. A Labour government and consumers. immediately repeal the Indus- the fight Again, 1) A Labour government must This fight trial Relations Act. State now. Indus- immediately repeal the must begin now by forcing the must be answered trial Relations Act, Housing TUC to break off all relations widespread fight f Finance Act, Immigration Acts, with the government and Fair Trading Act and all wage mobilize the working class to and improve control. After the repeal of all destroy state control of wages.

means a fight to Tory anti-working class mea- Tory government sures, there must be legislation 4) The right to defend rights the union leadersh to implement the Charter of won in the past and change Basic Rights, along the follow- All the changes in 6) The right to hea the svstem. ing lines. legal procedures made by the fare benefits. Ever 2) The right to work! Capital- Tory government must be re- ernment cut in ism demands mass unemploy- pealed. All secret police and fits. in the ment. The right to a job must MI5 organizations must be dis- all public in about Fill in the form below and send to NATIONAL

SECRETARY,

SOCIALIST

LABOUR

LEAGUE,

186a CLAPHAM HIGH ST, LONDON SW4 7UG.

Name.. Address. ad fully exposed. The Tory adminis- this sphere must be All rights to speech and the Press guaranteed. higher stan- trade but the profit sys- crisis. the Counce be to all the great fortunes close down the state place a of ver all movements of the JuL lization of the basic and of all large com- nks, building and in- unified improve the living of the whole people. control of these, as national- present will run them erests of the workers fight must begin contro by the most d fight for wage in- price rises standards. This fight to remove the and change leadership. ht to health and wel. Every Tory gov- welfare bene- health service and ublic spending must

DEFEN

Unite il The road to por

SUNDAY N

Pageant Offic

VOSPER THORMYCROFTS

SOUTHAMPTON SAY.

BENERAL ZIKE GENERAL STRIKE

STRIKE TES: TORIESSMASH

"STPIE

CONTROL

OF

WAGES

be revoked. On the basis of the Common Market plans for dictatorship. nationalization, crash pro- gramme of expansion of ser- Withdraw all British troops the unemployed, vices to the from abroad and disband the low-paid, the sick and the aged present standing army. an The working absolute priority. Sign treaties with all ex- class and the for Labour govern- colonial countries pro- ment must take immediate and trade and grammes of equal absolute responsibility for mutual assistance, these victims of the capitalist Break from NATO and all imperialist alliances. For the carrying out of such 7) The right to decent housing.

policies the SLL fights for the Decent housing is not a luxury; setting of Councils of up People have it is a necessity. Action struggle Ine the basic right to decent against the Tory government accommodation at rents they in every area. These Councils can afford. Nationalization unite trade unionists, tenants, the handful of building mono- unemployed, all political par- polies building and ties and tendencies of the will provide the basis for working class (Labour Party, of programme new Communist Party,

SLL,

IS, house building. The disgraceful IMG, etc.) to fight : against the the problem homeless in main enemy, the Tory govern- the cities must be immediately ment. solved by census and taking The SLL calls upon every of all unoccupied pro-

OVCI

socialist and class-conscious perty. worker to consider this and gramme manifesto very The international respon- carefully, and to decide now to sibilities of the working class. their take up inescapable re- The class is interna- sponsibilities. The building of for tional. the the revolutionary party is the

JIN•

restricted right of any worker Sume remote future. The Sil any nationality move some remote future. freely through the world.

is determined to carry through Withdraw from the troops its transformation into a re- Ireland. Unite the Irish and volutionary party. British working class to throw We appeal to all readers out the Lynch and Heath gov- Workers Press of the and ernments. the Unite in the struggle for the our supporters to join States Socialist United

SLL

and help transform Europe, the only alternative to it into a revolutionary party.

ANTI-TORY RALLY

AND PAGEANT OF HISTORY

"ROAD TO WORKERS POWER"

DEFEND ALL DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

Unite in action to make this Tory government resign Defend trade unionism and basic living standards The road to power is through the building of the revolutionary party SUNDAY MARCH 11, 3 p.m. AT EMPIRE POOL, WEMBLEY Speakers: gasmen, hospital workers, car workers.

Gary Gurmeet, Editor Keep Left.

G. Healy, National Secretary, SLL.

Cabaret in the evening featuring:

ALAN PRICE JACK BRUCE

ELLIS

TICKETS £1. AVAILABLE FROM :

Pageant Office, 34 Hamilton Gardens, London, NW8 Phone: 286 3332

COACHES AND TRAINS LEAVING FROM ALL AREAS

GEANT

SPECIAL

Workers Press, Friday March 9, 1973

PAGE 5

PAGEL

MARX AND THE

FIRST INTERNATIONAL

The British working class is now preparing for the most decisive period of struggle in its long his.

tory. The great depth of the crisis facing world and British capitalism means that the em- ploying class can only hope to cling onto power by preparing the ruthless struggle most working class. This will involve an attempt break up the organizations which it has built

UVEI

decades of struggle. But this which Chas developed particularly since the election of the Tory government be Icoolvca ramework or capitalism. The struggle against unemploy- ment, speed-up and redundancies and defence of the unions all demand the preparation by the lake powel. Great changes, changes in the relationship of the classes, always prepare

TOT

great changes in thinking. Faced with problems the completely

LICW

will Working Cass creasingly be forced to make forward in gigantic leap and battle sciousness IntO armed with its history. But, although driven into bit- ter stucores. seculons the workers will enter the fight still clinging last as a their old Wals Concesuons ana lorms or organization.

the the And role reform- ists, Stalinists and revisionists is to try and see that the working burdened these of historically forms Icuunuanl thinking Showdown with government There 81008C about this development in have fought for tenaciously revolutionary party at each stage.

While deter- requiring sacrince TolS struggle will also demand great For there be patience. can the devel- opment the working-class's consciousness. The first stage of this new great offensive. wades But while this the form, the implications of this fight are pro- lounaly •onuca, then wolve a Tire direct confronta- tion with government committed to showdown 10W class, but the very existence the unions as independent organs on working-class struggle.

It is for these reasons that the revolutionary movement is now posed with theoretical coatence ana responsibility.

SHOT

what is at issue not merely whether Trotskyism will able sunport from and older youth layers in the working class—the period since May-June 1968 France growing interest Shown Marxism. Britain wwill be to exception. The growth Workers Press is an indication of this.

The essential Marxist task is programming of su work for working programme class. but the training of cadres in theory. This involves implacable struggle against the limitations of against une working Cass. forms forich must thinking, • it the struggle bring real and historica tions of the present crisis.

The organic connection between present struggles of class established section of work- The study of history has be forged into weapon to First International continued Karl Marx, who established the First International In 1884. It was the first organization 1o represent the Interests of labour throughout Europe on page 6

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Friday March First International continued from page 5 crack many of the theoretical and practical questions that noW demand solution. And understanding of the con- tinual fight for Marxism must be instilled into the present genera- tion of workers. For it is from this history that the Socialist Labour League derives its theory, strategy and tactics. Capitalism can be overthrown only if the revolutionary move- ment can bring the lessons of the historical fight for Marxism in Britain to bear, in a real living way, on the tasks which it and the working class face. The task of tracing this con- tinuity-from the time of Marx's Engel's and in the struggles British working class from the 1840s onwards--involves a break from the insularity which has dominated the English long working class. But this hght tor Marxism, reflecting international the struggle of the working class, is not a national question. This theoretical conception has practical significance profound at a period when the prepara- tion for the English revolution fuses ever more closely with the European revolution. revisionists have Middle-class always declared Marxism — or, more strictly, Bolshevism - as something quite 'alien' and 'nut of character' with the English working class. day March 9, 1973 What unites all revisionists Pabloites of the International Marxist Group, the 'state capi- talist' International Socialism group as well as the New Left is their hatred and fear of the Leninist Party. They have sought to replace it with brands of 'honest' English Marxism which could • combine the worst features of petty- bourgeois dilettantism with trade union opportunism. Seeking to tailor Marxism to opportunism, to cut out its revolutionary content and its internationalism they have looked to William Morris and John McClean as the 'true' English Marxists. We have start from to an theoretical entirely different standpoint. There is no 'national Marxism; it is a science which seeks to draw • out the lessons of all the gains, victories and defeats of the international work- ing class and put these at the disposal of the working class in each country. All those who start from some conception of a Marxism "pecu- liar' to the conditions of any one country inevitably end up by adapting prevailing, to bourgeois ideas in that country.

So the struggle for Marxism, in Britain right from the 1840s, has been centred on the struggle against opportunism, against all those in the working class and middle class who wanted to base • themselves on the most privileged and conservative layers. And the same internationalist struggle was certainly at the of the preparations for centre the Russian Revolution. Lenin and his followers were able defeat to Menshevism (opportunism) in their own movement only because they sought to establish its inter- national nature and its connec- tion with the development of the imperialist stage of capital- ism. It was because they recognized and understood Menshevism as an international tendency that the Bolsheviks overcame it in those, struggle; : all including Kautsky, who did not start from this position ended up either by joining this tendency or cravenly adapting to it. pračticalism' The struggle against opportun- ism has gone along with a con- stant struggle against 'practical- ism' and a general aversion to theory and ideas. Marxism can only be developed in the continual fight against the narrowness and parochialism which has dominated large sec- working tions of the British class. Lenin warned that the Com- munist Party of Great Britain— formed in 1920—would develop only to the extent that it was able to fight successfully against the opportunism and syndicalism that tended to predominate in the English working class.

In a negative sense Lenin's warnings were absolutely con- firmed. Stalinism took hold of the British Party perhaps more easily than it did any other Commun- ist Party in the 1920s because the 'theory" and practice of a privil- eged bureaucracy in the Soviet Union found a ready response to the which opportunism infected many of the cadres, like Gallagher, Murphy and Bell who came together to establish the British Communist Party. But if Marx, Engels and Lenin were acutely aware of the weak- nesses and limitations of the British working class, they were certainly equally well aware of its great strength and potential power. None of the leading Marxists stood aside from even the slight- est and most limited develop- ment in the working class.

After the defeat of Chartism in 1848, for example, Marx and Engels sought to understand the real lessons of this movement, its achievements and its limita- tions. Those like Ernest Jones and George Julian Harney, who had the come nearest to grasping revolutionary nature of Chartism, were unable to survive the period of reaction which inevitably fol- lowed the movement's collapse.

It was only the insistence upon a fight for theory in the difficult years of reaction following 1848 that prepared the way for a renewal and expansion of the revolutionary movement once the class struggle began to revive towards the end of the 1850s.

This revival, coinciding with the opening the mid-Vic- torian boom, took the form of a struggle trade unionism amongst the most highly-skilled sections of workers — engineers, boilermakers, build- carpenters, ing trade workers. Limited though this move- ment was compared with the size and of Chartism, Marx scope recognized its importance and turned his full attention towards it. The bulk of his supporters on the General Council of the First International (established in 1864) came from these forces.

Marxists have never made a of the 'backwardness' of fetish the English working class. They have always tried to understand it as the product of definite his- torical forces, which has always been a relative and not absolute barrier to the develop- ment of Marxism. Again this is a vital lesson for the present struggles. The revo- lutionary party is now called on to intervene in all workers struggles, however limited they seem from a formal point may of view. If the working class is merely looked at in a formal way, and there is not a relentless struggle to extract all the theoretical les- Marx strus from sons every development, Top left: however small, then there can Council n be no development of Marxism.

Chartist m

he ve th ic- ed rs, d- e- ze ds st in a ey Id S- ys or IS nt 5- Marx struggled against the Anarchist Bak it. Top left: Tom Kempinski, playing Marx Council meeting. Top right: The Manc Chartist meeting. Because both Marx and Engels recognized the great power of the trade union movement in English Ere ise kir class they were working class were patience and with complete determination against the oppor- elements the lead- tunist among ers of the skilled workers who were beginning to unionize in the 1850s. This not only played a vital part in the struggle against the First Inter- Anarchists in the national, but it also prepared struggles for the great which the working class was to wage thousands its hundrade against these same opportunist leaders with the growth of un- skilled trade unionism in the 1880s. fight So the of Marx and Engels the conservatism of the English trade union lead- ers in the 1860s was a theoretical of the fight of the anticipation the working class of 1880s which Engels was able to play a decisive role. In the early stages of a move- ment, the interest in its theory is inevitably confined to relatively But it numbers. small nre. cisely in such periods that the struggle to develon and enrich irchist Bakunin, (above), In the First Internallonal.

Marxism, no matter how difficult, Pageant, General Mary in tho speaks amongst how few mottor Manchester cast rehearsing a scene of workers, that the vital theoreti- Workers Press, cal base is laid for the expan- sion of the movement during the of the class struggle upturn which brings hundreds of thou- sands and later millions onto the political arena for the first time.

It is only in this theoretical sense that we can speak about the movement's continuity, which is not primarily an organiza- tional question. It it is conceived as such, then it readily leads to the conclusion the continuity has that been decisively broken several on occasions. A case in point would cer- tainly be the decision by Marx and Engels to wind up the First International in 1876. If seen as a narrow organizational question, then this could be taken as a victory for the Anarchists. But of course it was nothing of the sort. It was in the course of the bitter struggle against Bakunin both Marx and to which Engels gave their detailed and undivided attention-that great theoretical developments were made. It was in the conflict over the nature of the state, which found its test in practice in the Paris Commune of 1871, that Marx- ism was able to deepen its under- standing of the tasks confronting the working class. It is for this reason that Lenin is able to start 'State and Revolution' with an examination of workers' experi- ences in relation to the state in 1848 and in 1871, as analysed 8 Press, Friday March 9, 1973 PAGE 7 by Marx and Engels. In the same way, the fight which Trotsky and a . handful of supporters continued to wage against Stalinism throughout the 1920s and 1930s was an indis- pensable theoretical preparation for the formation of the Fourth International in 1938. Without the successful estab- lishment of the International in the last years of Trotsky's life there would have been no suc- cessful development of the move- ment and struggle against Pablo- ite revisionism. The continuity in the fight for Marxism in the British working class consists of a continual fight for principles and theory.

This fight has been waged by the Socialist Labour League in the teeth of hatred by all the revisionists of Marxism. This hostility centres, naturally with its enough, on Leninism, concept of a centralized, discip- lined, party to lead the working class to power. These groups are wrong to think they can attack Leninism with impunity and remain true followers' of Marx and Engels.

For all Lenin's theoretical con- cepts along with his struggle to build the Bolshevik Party and later the Communist Inter- national, were direct develop- ments of the teachings of Marx and Engels. This is above all true of Marx's concept of the vanguard party: First International continued on page 8

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Friday March First International continued from page 7 its relationship to the working class and the critical importance of the fight for theory within it.

Historically, although there was a tradition of international activity in the British labour movement from the French Revolution on, it was only when the International Workingmen's Association (First International) was formed in 1864 that there stable and permanent was organization to the represent interests of labour throughout Europe. The possibilities of this new development was closely con- nected with changes in British trade union movement.

After the defeat of Chartism in 1848 trade unionism tended to be confined to a narrow layer of privileged workers, the 'labour aristocracy' centred on the en- gineering trades. in this stratum But even changes occurred by 1860. The building trade was the centre of these developments. After a boom in the 1850s, by the end of the decade the indus- try was in the midst of a reces- sion in which unemployment was growing and employers were attempting to reduce wages.

signifi- These changes were cant for the renewed campaign within the industry for a nine- hour day. A high proportion of English delegates to the International building trade, came from the many of them close collaborators of Marx. The creation of the Lon- don Trades Council, in 1860, was of equal importance; its first Secretary, George Odger, was to be the International's only Presi- dent. Although Marx knew the limi- tations of trade unionism he was equally aware of its significance the and involved himself in work of the International even though he was engaged in the preparation of "Capital'.

He wrote to Engels (Novem- ber 4, 1864): 'I knew that this time real "powers" were involved both on the London and Paris sides and therefore decided . to waive my usual standing rule to decline any such invitations' Marx saw that in England and something France new was emerging after the defeats of 1848: the working class, if only in a limited way, was entering politics as an independent force. The inaugural address of the International, drafted by Marx, was directed, principally, to the new developments taking place among English trade unions.

But he knew that many trade union leaders saw the Inter- national merely as an extension of trade unionism onto a Euro- pean plane to prevent the use of in times of foreign blacklegs strike action. Marx exercised great patience with leaders such as Odger who tended to look at all things through the narrow eyes of trade unionism: but such patience was vital if the International was to be successfully launched and Marx was to get nearer to the developing movement. 'It was very difficult', he wrote to Engels on November 4, 1864, 'to frame things so that our view should appear in a form accept- able from the present standpoint of the workers' movement. In a few weeks the same people will be holding meetings for the iran-.

chise with Bright and Cobden It will take time before the re- awakened movement allows the old boldness of speech. It will be fortiter in re, necessary to be sauviter in modo!' Marx and, later Engels realized that the newly emerging conditions gave an opportunity to destroy politically and theore- semi-socialist tically the many particularly in sects which, France, had inevitably dominated the movement in the aftermath of the 1848 Revolution. These had demoralized the European labour movement. Marx's alliance with the best elements of the English trade union movement was designed to and defeat the Proudhonists Bakuninists in Europe and pre- pare the ground for working- class parties striving for the dic- tatorship of the proletariat.

As Marx wrote later to one of his supporters, Bolte, (Novém- ber 23, 1871): "The International was founded in order to replace the socialist or semi-socialist sects by a real organization of the working class for struggle. The original Statutes and Inaugural Address show this at a glance. On the other hand, the International could not have maintained itself if the course y March 9, 1973 Communards in Paris, 1871 surround ll of history had not already smashed sectarianism. The devel- opment of socialist sectarianism and that of the real labour move- ment always stand in inverse ratio to each other. And again in the same letter: 'Sects are justified (historically) so long as the working class is not yet ripe for an independent historical movement. As soon as it has attained this maturity all sects are essentially reactionary.

Nevertheless, what history estab- repeated lishes everywhere was the history of the Inter- national. What is antiquated tries to re-establish itself and maintain its position within the newly acquired form' While Marx, in his polemic against the old Owenite Social- Weston, demonstrated that ist trade unions were capable of effecting improvements in the workers' living standards (see and Profit for 'Value Price Marx's refutation of Weston's sectarian position) he also made clear the weakness of the trade unions. "They fail generally by accept- ing present relations of the capital and labour as permanent instead of working for their abolition'. of the unions In his discussion on the future of the unions Marx said they would have to break out of their if they narrowness were to develop: 'Apart from their original pur- they must now learn poses, to deliberately as organizing act centres of the working class in the broad interests of its com- plete emancipation. They must aid social and political every move tending in that direction?

This attitude contrasted with that of the Anarchists who were either indifferent or hostile to unions. Proudhon, for example, opposed the 1864 Act which had legalized the French unions: I especially object to the new law: association for the purpose of increasing or lowering wages is entirely the same as associa- tion for the purpose of increas- ing the prices of food and other commodities' Proudhon and his followers also voted against the adoption of the demand for the eight-hour an aim of the Inter- day as national, on the ground that this would only further encourage 'state intervention'. Yet this slogan anticipated the campaigns of the late 1880s when thousands of unskilled workers took up the demand as part of their struggle to unionize.

It also became one of the slogans of the Second International on urround the fallen statue of | its foundation in Proudhor was political action the free exchange' means the After Proudhon's de Bakunin went opposition to all form and centralism in anarchism that essons or tne centre fight conception of Marx insisted the arrose social relations of pr the instrument ruling class privilege Bower ane exploited classes. The state would onl when econome been created through opment of socialism doocalance classes. The aim of the had, therefore, une capitals would maintain Only after a transiti and the development ist consciousness begin was Loe main enemy. working une vena-pourceoce d' abolition of all significant was to draw the his support eveloped capitalist notably England But Bakunin's from came Talv ano. peasantry rom rivileged ike the Jura most non-revolutionary outl Marx fought bitter and tenacious destroy Bakunin's International. And t the of Course nature Inat national was establishe The correctness of N tion Commune through Anarchists the working class was statue of Napoleon I which on in 1889. opposed mphasizer and of emancipating lent artisan. adhon's death in 1865 further with his all forms of author- tralism in the inter- this struggle against the real theore- new situa- ot the of the theoretical Bakunır Tane the state. that the state of basis definite ons of production as through maintained privilege the over would only disappear concons I through the devel- ocialism for the dis- anazonusuc one = capitalist state and old state which Dower a transitional period a social. totally opposed conception. State Wars une The aim of revo- asing themselves not class but

UDOI

had to be the over- and thus that Marx part countries, Germany. chief followers

SUCH

where the dominated, of highly-skilled and •n•evencent arti. conservative a long, often battle in the only Inter- established. tness of Marx's post- The Ham It was only fight with the rical significance for Internationa class was grasped. n l which had originally surm What the and made concrete capitalist state peacefully transforme be smashed ana tnat l smached the ing class could only through the greates centralism was a development at the crota which was an indispe oretical uccessful struggl in the veals great theoretical events of fight against Trotskyist The the Second World W indispensable the TO. situation now throughout Europe In other words, broke national in explained letter to Sorge (Septer Actually in 1864 tical character masses. mol vel exist as a wor Proudhonism was able to trot out hobby horses, balderdask and the even Engish trade laid preamble to the for entering ment. "The first bound to explode this great junction of all success was was, which without child of the national to produce it, and for International to a cer properly Commune, the Intern become a moral force the row at once integration, which was set in.' Hague trade union Internati leserted the fallo of the savage witc Tollowed It was bitter followers were throwr International, the pow nally surmounted the Colom Commune showed олстете мас That Tae could not be ransformed but and that once having old state the work- retain power tralism against the landmark in the Marxis The le state, a landmarl indispensable Lenin's muggle agalnst Naul- Bakunin against after 1864 tical anticipation just as the inside revisionism movement since World War has been • theoretical pre- the eveloping revolorain the Commune the old form. Engels important an ge (September 12-17, theore- movement y unclear everywhere is, among nan communism sear to as a workers too its particul Bakunin's leaders unions thougnt the down Rules entering the was plode this naïve con- factions. This the Commune, doubt, all y International although the Interr lift nngel t, and for which the to a certain extent held respon- thanks the he International had began. .. hich was inevitable, erstwhile collaborators had International in the vage witch-hunt that wake after that e throw out of the the powers of the Vendome. lomne

I EEE

General marked inge s centre the Atlantic Andreasa regain control. the wound Hague show the theoretical nized by the centralizatior hands oi a tew. TreP Teceranion conditions neo benae the SeTl hrain. Hor the movement General Council require no "No" On Mary's following terms: We German hold that the the thermore, glaringly in the General these

"A TA

unscientific as one can make not even dology? although Tne TOrMaTIOn International, continuity Dreserveo. "neca Laut ulOl close attention, significant part. Reprinted from December 15 1970. increased end of the Thali Its, only * the SO unable to vears was formally the clearly „ that battles whick ns was recog. at the power the and that oi the those Whom has country •I COl• cannot repre- of the required with authority we answer of C ore the attached trend the least, Commune Fur- the ShOWS against of not people believe that Do

.COO

barrica- organizationally cence e tec 1889 with the Second theoretical been the TOTmeO to

THE FRENCH POPULAR FRONT

July 1936: How Blum depended on the Stalinists Capitalism cleans itself up. The Confederate Investment Hold- ings Limited is to be wound up by a compulsory order of the High Court. What is behind this firm action by the forces of law and order? It seems that shortly after the company was formed it be- 'Inter- gan advertising in the national Herald Tribune' , pub- lished in France, for deposits from the public. The "Tribune' has a substantial readership in Britain and a number of sub- scribers put their money in.

The company was advertised as having an offshore fund with the attraction to inves- tors of not only tax relief but the protection of the company being registered in England.

Behind the company was a Mr Marcus Wilder of Texas, whose whereabouts are un- known. Apart from Mr Wilder there appears to have been little else holding the show together. the firm was investi- When gated it was found to have a paid-up share capital of two cents. That's about enough for a packet of chewing gum. When subscribers asked for their money back, they were disappointed. Their company had disappeared. It is in the public interest that the com- pany be wound up,' said the judges. But as Companies House will readily inform you, about a dozen or more groups exactly the same as the Confederate are set up each week! Readers may remember that we recently gave an extremely harsh review to J. T. Murphy's 'Preparing for Power' pub- lished by the state capitalist International Socialism. The same cannot be said of the 'Red Mole'. George Cunvin (perhaps better known to some as C. van Gelderen) welcomes a 'minor appearance as : Stalin: Weakened Mr Murphy.

classic' and 'first class history' of the British working-class movement. Murphy, in Cunvin van Gelderen's opinion was a 'Marxist' who showed 'poten- tial' 'an outstanding as theoretician'. His review makes hilarious 'Unfortu- reading, however. he tells us, 'Murphy's ately, theoretical development was to be blunted [sic] against the rock of Stalinism? Murphy was doing fine, it appears, until he went to Moscow in the early 1920s. Then, with contact "critical Stalin weakened his faculties' and soon 'he was quite unable to distinguish Stalinism and the between Communism of Lenin and Trotsky. Not that we must blame Murphy, because Stalinism, we are told, 'had a particularly disastrous effect on the British Communist Party. Quite how. the muddled Murphy, with critical faculties "blunted' and unable to tell the difference between revolu- tionary and counter-revolu- tionary politics came to write 'one of the most useful short histories of the labour move- ment' is left to the imagination.

BY TOM KEMP

The Popular Front in France was a political alliance of the leaders of the working-class parties with a section of the ruling class based on defending bourgeois de. reforms mocracy and within capitalism. In order to preserve this alliance the Communist Party took a leading part in bring- ing to an end the great strike movement of June 1936 which threatened to lead to a revolu- tionary confrontation between the working class and Leon Blum's government. Although the Communist Party leaders had agreed not to enter Blum's government- in order not to frighten the depended middle class - it communist votes in the upon Chamber of Deputies. More- over, in the government's early months, two members of the Political Bureau, usually Maurice Thorez and Jacques Duclos, met the Prime Minister each morning at his residence.

thus fully in- They were formed of Blum's intentions and assisted in putting over to class his policy the working of 'the exercise of power".

Blum drew a distinction be- tween the 'exercise of power' when he could only act as custodian for capitalism from the 'conquest of power' when there was an electoral mandate for socialist The measures. Popular Front fell definitely into the first category, and the Thorez leadership fully agreed.

The Stalinists were the firmest advocates for maintain- ing the alliance with the Radical Party and its principal leader, Edouard Daladier. In- deed, after the strikes they tried • to broaden the basis of Popular Front-to the the aim was to con- right. The ciliate sections of the middle class and peasantry, who were alarmed by the June events, and make an agreement with centre and conservative the parliamentary groups. In August Thorez introduced the idea of what he called 'a French Front', which was to be an alliance of all classes barring the big bourgeoisie.

the monopolists of the '200 families' said to rule France. He called for: 'A French for the Front respect of the law, which can effective dissolutioresent, the mean, and dis- armament of the fascist leagues, the defence of the Constitution and of the Republic. 'A French Front, for the national defence ma of the economy, which can only mean, in present conditions, the pro- tection and assistance elements in the middle class support of peasant and the demands, by making the rich and preventing certain pay capitalists sabotaging from national production. 'A French Front for the freedom and independence of our country, which means an active and consistent policy in agreement with those countries which really desire peace and collective security. That means rejecting with indignation any interference foreign in the affairs of the country.' This piece of open class- collaboration, appealing to nationalism, prostrating itself before the middle class and appealing to all the most back- ward sentiments in the work- ing class, speaks for itself.

Thorez, or more properly Stalin, had been seriously alarmed by the May-June events and the threat of re- volution. It was necessary, once again, to give assurances to the Popular Front partners.

The main thing was to ensure a government ready to join in the policy of collective security which the Soviet Union was advocating and not likely to alarm the British government ed. of Neville Chamberlain.

be re- As Gitton (later to vealed as a police agent in the it: We consider Party) put it impossible, in the face of the Hitler menace, to carry out a policy which would emperil the security of France' The policy of a broad front of this kind did not appeal to Leon Blum who knew that, partly because he was a Jew, he would not be acceptable as Prime Minister to the parlia- mentary groups to the right of the Popular Front. Thorez Workers Pross, Fi allowed the slogan of a French Front to drop out of sight after only a short life. While the strikes were being brought under control - and well into some lasted July- Blum turned to deal with the pressing problems which his inherited and government had which had been intensified by the militancy of the working class. It was necessary, above to restore order and all, stability based upon respect for property, while private avoiding civil war. He knew that the respon- sibility for the disarming of the working class was in the of the reformist safe hands trade union leaders and Thorez and his fellow Stalinists.

In June he knew that it had been impossible to use force against workers occupying the the tactories. Unce they were out, then the forces of repression could be built up while the bourgeoisie was restoring its confidence. Blum drew what strength he had as a political leader from the backing which the masses gave to the Popular Front. When disillusionment set in, Blum could no longer call upon the masses to support him and his own position collapsed. But he also depended directly on the goodwill of the Stalinists who demanded, above all, that he should pursue a foreign in line with the needs policy of Soviet diplomacy. With a pistol pointed at his head by the working class, Blum had been forced to rush through a programme of social in the summer of legislation 1936 which went even further than the Popular Front pro- gramme had envisaged. Besides the wage increases won by the strikers, which were soon to be absorbed by price increases, Blum agreed at Matignon to implement the 40-hour week, to make collective contracts legally binding and to pass a law for holidays. with pay.

No doubt these were important gains wrung from the employing class through struggle. They were not social reforms in the usual sense, but an extension of the concessions

PAGE 8

: Press, Friday March 9, 1873 Leon Blum, Soclalist Above: Party leader and Prime Minister, with Maurice Thorez, leader of Communist Party, the which backed Blum's government. made in order to bring the strikes to an end. They meant higher costs for business at a when employers were "time struggling to restore profit- ability. nature of these 'con- The quests', won in struggle, dis- guised the fact that in the events of 1936 the working class had been cheated of power and pushed back. The employers had not only re- covered their factories, but they were determined to win back the concessions and in- crease the exploitation of the working class. An important change soon took place in the strategy of the big employers, whose organization had negotiated the Matignon Agreement. A veritable coup d'état replaced its conciliatory leaders with hard-liners determined to fight it out with the working class. To signal the change its was changed to the name Confédération Générale du Patronat Français (the French Employers' Confederation in- stead of the Confederation for French Production). From the summer of 1936 employers began to pour money into the coffers of the two extreme right-wing parties, the Parti Social Français of Colonel de la Rocque and the more openly fascist party, the Parti Populaire Français of the communist renegade Jacques Doriot. The capitalists had come to the conclusion that authoritarian government an was absolutely necessary. This was the view, for example, of Louis Renault. He, like many other employers, became pro- Nazi on the basis of better Hitler than the Popular Front.

The two years following the election victory of the Popular Front in 1936 saw the bitterest class battles in French history, which culminated in the de- moralization and defeat of the working class. The responsibility for this lies primarily on the shoulders of the Communist Party as its counter- the result of revolutionary policy during the strikes, which it maintained in the following period.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

PAGE 10 Workers Press, Friday March 9, 1973 BARNET Intel

YOUR

CHILD

BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

THE EXECUTIVE

of the National Union of Teachers intends to launch no real fight on class sizes. This is clear from a statement to be presented its Easter conference borough, which calls only tained propaganda pressure and nego tiations. The responsibility for action is thrown membership. back the The statement on are members in Where there badly- says: stafied schools ready to refuse to teach under these conditions, the action committee and executive are ready and anxious to support those teachers.' Young teachers higher London In other words, the executive itself will give union approach no lead. And the specific proposals to be put strikes strategy conference limit even this to who, in many cases, are not These pledge. say that the teaching children full time.

executive will support mem- They are also average ratios, 'on the recommendation bers thus hiding much worse con- of local association' and ditions in some areas. There are 'under guidance of the the of over 35 children, many classes committee. though the NUT's official policy action is for a ceiling of 30. The pupil-teacher ratio has The executive's report of the shown little improvement over campaign in the areas to reduce as the figures show sercut yeals, class sizes is full of extremely in the table below. vague phrases. Actual class sizes much They are carefully avoid stating larger than these ratios, which exactly what, if anything, has include headteachers and others been achieved.

PUPIL-TEACHER RATIOS:

1968 1966 1967 1969 1970 1971 Primary 28.0 27.9 27.9 27.7 27.4 26.9 Secondary 18.4 18.2 18.1 17.9 17.8 17.9

TODAY'S TV

BBC 1

ITV

9.38-11.45 Schools. 12.30 Holi hynt.

9.30 Schools. 10.30 VAT 73 (London 12:55 News. 1.00 Pebble mill at one.

only). 11.00 Schools. 12.05 Mr. 1.30 Teddy Edward. 1.35 Ring a ding.

Trimble. 12.25 Happy house. 12.40 1.45 Television doctor. 2.05 Schools. First report. 1.00 Time was. 1.30 2.25 Children talking. 2.35 Parkinson.

Crown court. 2.00 General hospital. 3.35 Tomorrow's world. 4.00 Noggin 2.30 Good afternoon. 3.00 Junkin. 3.25 and the flying machine. 4.10 Play Marcus Welby MD. 4.20 Elephant Boy.

school. 4.35 Jackanory. 4.50 Deputy 4.50 Magpie. 5.20 Arnie. 5.50 News.

dawg. 5.00 Crackerjack 73. 5.40 Sir 6.00

TODAY.

6.35

•US TOM AND

CROSSROADS.

6.45 7.00

THE PROTECTORS.

A Case

ERRY.

7.00

VIRGINIAN:

for Right. the

SHILOH,

7.30 HAWAII FIVE-O. Jury of one.

8.15

AND

WISE

MOKECAMBE

Castle, 8.30 ON THE BUSES. The Recruit- Pete Murray, Anne Murray, ment Poster. Pattersons. 9.00 JUSTICE. One for the Road.

REGIMENT

25 Courtship. 10.00

NEWS. 10.30 POLICE FIVE.

TALK-IN

10.15

DIMBLEBY

FILM:

'INSIDE

NEWS.

10.40

DETROIT'.

11.00

LATE

NIGHT

FILM:

-MURDER

Pat O'Brien.

THIS

IDA-

•"'Keete.

ONE'.

Robert Conrad, Howard Thriller about a crooked union Duff Diane rade Television D. boss. Scott Brady. anon. 12.10

A TIME TO SPEAK.

film. detective 12.15 JASON KING. As Easy as ABC.

11.35

BBC 2

FILM: 'ALPHAVILLE'. Direc- Play 5.25 Open 9.00 school. Jniversity ted by Jean-Luc Godard. With

HAMMER IT HOME.

Eddie Constantine, Anna 7.30

NEWS SUMMARY.

Weather. Karina, Akim Tamiroff.

GARDENERS'

7.35

WORLD.

NIGHT. 11.15

NEWS.

10.45

FILM

under the Waves. 8.00

MONEY

WORK.

Wealth Weather. noblesond Bamm

REGIONAL TV

Cartoor 125 Crossroads 6.00 6.35 University Day by challenge 7.05 Sale im: "leach For

CHANNEL:

9.30-12.00 Mass him: 10.30 Weeken 2.30 Yogạ. London. 12.25 News. 10.35 "Reach Glory' News. 12.35 Weather. Guideline. London. 6.00 9.30 non don over 50 5.20 unkin. London. London. 7.00 London. Rovers ReP030 FBi. 8.30 Who Chuckleheads. 5.25 Cross. carto 9.00 you Fondsons.50 5.20 6.01 West London. roads. London. Report Film: Re 7.00 Wales. Doctor ir weather. charge. "Ivanhoe' London.

WESTWARD

As12 Channel call. except: London. News. except: Gus 6.01-6.15 London. 4.20 Honeybun. 6.00 cantamil. 10.35 Diary 6.25 Sports. 10.32 News. dydd. Sports arena. ofite. the Ash family: 12.45 Six years late. as above except: 6.15-6.30 Report West.

SOUTHERN: 9.30

2.00 on.om.oo 12.00 News. 2.30 3.00 12.04 12.05 i2.05 London. don. 2300 Women. News 3.25 3.00 Galloping gourmet. Saint. 4.20

YOU MUSTBE

on the march in London for n allowance find the same half-hearted ach to class sizes as the selective gy over pay. Thus: in Birmingham 'the position has improved'; in War- 'progress wickshire, was re- ported'; in Blackpool 'progress is being made'; in Wolverhampton 'the Association is maintaining its pressure; and in Harlow, the Association representatives raised local problems and also criticized their County Authority'. In some areas the position has got worse. In Essex, for example, the executive has to admit that 'during the year the improvement noted in 1971 has not developed' and in Croydon 'the latest reports show deterioration in the a situation'. It is clear that the leadership of the National Union its president- Teachers, under elect, Communist Party member Max Morris, is putting up no fight whatsoever on this vexed question. Philip Jenkinson discusses the work o Luc Godard for ten minutes on. BBC Cinema presentation, Godard's 'Alphal up. Above: Godard with his wife Anne his films 'La Chinoise'. Right: The Stewart Granger as the tiger-shootin' cides to hunt a different quarry in the London. 3.30 Dick Van Dyke. Romper 4.20 News. 4.50 London. 5.20 room. Elephant boy. 5.50 London. 6.00 - Lond 6.35 London. 7.00 Sale About Anglia. 7.30 ondon 10.30 8.30 Of the century. bo Upper London. crusts. Probe. 11.00 Film: "Where the Bullets Fly'. 12.45 Epilogue. ATV MIDLANDS: 9.30 London. 12.00 Guide. 12.05 London. 3.30 Jason King.

4.20 Forest rangers. 4.50 London. 5.20 Flintstones. 5.50 London. 6.00 Today. 6.35 London. 7.00 Sky's the limit. 7.30 Comedians. 8.00 Protecte Mario. 9.00 London. 10.30 Film: "The Weather. ULSTER: 11.00 London. 1.32 News. 1.40 Schools. 2.40 Romper room. 3.00 London. 3.25 Women only. 3.55 Yoga. 4.23 4.25 Rainbow News. countrv. London. 6.00 Reports. 4.50 6.35 Sky's thelimit. 7.30 London. 7.00 Upper crusts. 9.00 Pathfinders. 8.30 London. 10.30 Name of the game. 11.50 Look up. Windscale WORKERS at Atomic Energy station, Cum- berland, plan meetings to decide action over com- on pensation for men affected by radiation. They claim that over the years 38 workers have been moved to other jobs after receiving radia- tion from plutonium. Harry Banks, divisional Mr organizer of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, IRISH PREMIER Liam Cosgrave, head of the far right Fine Gael, left Dublin with his Labourite deputy Brendan Corish yesterday for talks with Edward Heath. The talks, which are likely to Fight rising rents and prices Defend basic democratic rights Force the Tories to resign WANDSWORTH: Monday March 'King's Arms', 12, 8 p.m. ', High 'Forward to the Street, S.W.18. revolutionary party'. HARROW: Tuesday March 13, 8 p.m. Labour Hall, Harrow and Wealdstone. "The fight against Stalinism'. TOOTING: Tuesday March 13, Selkirk Hotel, Selkirk 8 p.m. Road, Tooting Broadway. 'For- ward to the Revolutionary Party.

CLAPHAM: Tuesday March 13, Clapham Manor Baths, 8 p.m. Clapham Manor Street, S.W.4.

CAMDEN: Tuesday March 13, 'Prince Albert', Wharfe- p.m. dale Road, Kings Cross. le work of French film director Jean- on. BBC 2 tonight before the World I's 'Alphaville', a science-fiction send wife Anne, who starred In another of ght: 'The Men From Sh|loh' include r-shootin' Colonel MacKenzie who de- rry in the Wlld West.

YORKSHIRE:

London. 9.30 3.30 Danger man. 4.25 Flintstones.. 4.50 _ London. 5.20 Me and the chimp: 5.50 London. 6.00 Calendar. "Weather.

6.35 London. 7.00 Sky's the limit.

7.30 London. 8.30 Upper crusts. 9.00 London. 10.30 Theatre. 10.55 Film: "The Stranglers of Bombay'. 2.25 Weather. GRANADA: 9.30 London. 12.00 Hand- 12.05 London. 3.25 songs. Shirley's world. 3.50 Cartoon. 4.00 Crossroads. TV 4.20 funnies. 4.50 London. 5.15 Please don't eat the daisies. 5.50 London. 6.00 News. 6.30 Upper crusts. 7.00 Film: 'None But the Brave'. 9.00 London. 10.30 Kick off. 10.55 Film: 'Naked Alibi'. 12.35 Spy- force. TYNE TEES: 9.25 Just one word. 9.30 London. 2.30 News. 3.00 2.31 Yoga. London. 3.30 Danger 4.25 man. Woobinda. 4.50 London. 5.20 Me and the chimp. 5.50 London. 6.00 • Today. Sky's the limit. 6.35 London. 7.00 said: 'The men are worried about the situation and have decided that some kind of action will be taken.' The UK Atomic Energy Authority has agreed that wor- kers who have to be moved from the 'plutonium line' to 'clear' areas will not be downgraded or lose pay for up to 15 years.

But the workers have rejected as too small a lump sum offer 'loss of job of £200 to cover ers, opportunity'. continue believed today, are mainly to concern the Tories' forthcoming White Paper on Ulster. The coalition team also hopes to meet British Labour • to Party leader Harold Wilson.

ACTON: Tuesday March 13, High Road, 8 p.m. Co-op Hall, W.3 PADDINGTON: Tuesday March 'Prince of Wales', 13, 8 p.m. Road and Harrow corner of Great Western Road. 'Forward to the revolutionary party'.

KINGSTON: Thursday March 15, 8 p.m. 'Liverpool Arms', corner of Cambridge Road and London Road. HOLLOWAY: Thursday March 15, 8 p.m. Co-op Hall, Seven Sisters Road. WALTHAMSTOW: Thursday March 15, 8 p.m. Royston Arms.

Chingford Road, E.4. CROYDON: Thursday March 15, 8 p.m. Ruskin House, Coombe Road. BASILDON: Sunday March 18, 5.30 p.m. Barnstaple Community Centre. 7.30 London. 8.30 Upper crusts. 9.00 London. 10.30 Life 10.55 on the roof. •Night Must Fall'. 12.35 News. Film: 12.40 Lectern. SCOTTISH: 9.30 London. 2.30 Date- line. 3.00 London. 3.30 It takes a thief.

4.20 Nanny and the professor. 4.50 London. 5.25 Crossroads. 5.50 London.

6.00 Today. 6.30 Doctor in charge. 7.00 Sky's the limit. 7.30 Film: 'Belle Starr'. 9.00 London. 10.30 Friday night. 11.00 Late call. 11.05 Man in suitcase. 12.00 Love American style.

GRAMPIAN:

10.58 London. News, 1.38 2.52 Schools. 2.40 Cartoon. 3.00 London. 3.25. Good afternoon. 3.25 Shirley's world. 4.20 Dave Cash.

4.50 London. 5.20 5.50 London. 6.00 News. 6.35 London. 7.00 Film: pian week. Battle Taxi. 8.00 Upper crusts. 9.00 Fondon: 1030o5, years later. 11.00 Film: Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate'. 12.35 Meditation.

Workers Pross, Friday March 9, 1973 PAGE 11 I don't say one thing and mean another: Joe Gormley

JOE GORMLEY

sible for the financial crisis, usu-

INTERVIEW BY ROYSTON BULL

run ally adopts right-wing pound and the currency troubles? positions on the execu- the gongemest pither (a) feated, it would mean the you am someone made 'We cannot continue as Industrial sometimes made responsible organization "The bring to tive of the Labour Party aim to halt the and alternative or (b) ware restrall. nelations

ACL

WCH

out. suville and as president of the hinder call a General Election.'

policies are not pre Laur NUM COl- do something will nor De National Union of "This leagues will tell you the Act beginning Later he told Congress about it if we are ignored.

by allowing each little behind of to have a big elect We Mineworkers (NUM). that because lack DalliC. section it alone. our 'United The scenes.

DOLI

On He repeated his view action Cannot own and other on declared from Congress the motion *so Congress this issue any longer.' Suddenly he has pushed as not unions.' the one-day stoppages will have give government any- tne government ignores himself right out in front Gormley said the present over In. why thing to crow about. but l asked Mr Gormley spate of the trade union move- Relations Act, he had switched his politics.

government or the working cenied Television ment by challenging his one cav sees a brote that he was any way replied that he had not rents. and prices. class. strikes would achieve very TUC colleagues either to relieved about this. 'The TUC is being asked little. really But he rejected the idea Strike General been that ne shome nave deuco ceteat the the pay seven-week overume accept anu anoluti. dill TUC leaders, in order to sincere.

TRUST

avoid dealing with been congress •ace moment dic question, tried the remarks as a piece of Gormley told a handful of miners went the whole hog Joe get political strikes. internal NUM manoeuvring.

and only resenica. with all-out this 'If we did lose an strike and votes for it. week. 'When you But Gormley them can t get the 'But if there be the General showed they meant business

DUL

blecton I have Whatever inconsistencics would only be our own under the that the government recog- back onuse sool on ONE achon, lel ll be in Joe militancy day by successfully chal- TUC leadership. The move- nized their fault. It is up to the labour case. Con- crying out for a lenging special enolovel A lot of people had sour political lead. that gress broccolle memories of 1926, Gormles venice General Strike emergency "The civil servants, but the trade Conc uced. resolution could be moved, ne eve Have teachers, the union movement today was •lalills. the hospital workers completely different al c 'Congress calls all laws. all crying our lor a lead.

a later organizatos 'We are not the anarch United we can stand and There are plenty consult their members with are going to be OCCl told the ists. Our claims are modest.

succeed, but divided we Coal As Gormley national ff trying. And if the view to taking conterv managers ana Are we to be held respon- are guaranteed to fail' special de- Board officials who will tell government was lory Inausultal aculon 101CC Rolls-BAC stewards discuss Subscribe now!

SHOP

STEWARDS

from

DETETHAMES GAS BOARD

Concorde jobs Rolls-Royce and British Air-

PLEASE

Corporation craft plants

KEEP THESE

want management recogni- of a liaison committee

GATES CLEAR

tion 'We will be taking ployment needs looking at. officer, says: safeguard jobs set 'Concorde's a symptom of the

HOUR EMERGERCY SETT

Up managements at this up with the following US airlines cancel- not id aust Whats the nignest level lI tney contnue Situatioll lation of Concorde options. with their present policy:' end The really needed is the nationali- which are a he canceratons. Neither company will agree industry.' the whole zation of calculated step in the pay committee members for the Market, Adds Vic Ryan: 'What's got with the Common And W all spent in meelings. home is that the to driven Colle maousanas far both have refused to provide whole of Bristol the Bristol area and elsewhere.

facilities for meetings on their Bristol reeling from bound up this issue. is already we ve last to get moving very quickly.' DI Custo. the shock announcement, got A meeting of the liaison com- Precisely what the committee Friday, of the closure of a long- mittee in Bristol tonight is ex- established Dory en ned notes 'get moving' on as yel pected to discuss the companies' but suggestions under Dorman unclear, Drecklich. what council- attitude- and with the loss of 500 jobs.

include The effect of the Concorde sponsored man describes public inquiry, 'their apparent reluctance to hold believed be 'dispassionate study' cancelalull any dialogue with workers' the probable effects of the situa Do you get WORKERS PRESS the Incer consce anon resentatives on the etect of the moment by senior civil servants.

by the Us . Created cancel- regularly? If not, why not take cancellations on jobs'. Both stewards and officials be- lations. What is certain is that as the The fight for recognition of the urgent that the lalson out a subscription now? neve It 1s gathers pace committee's campaign gets under committee is also to be alscussed economic CrISIS of union officials, immediately. these formulas will prove totally way the Confederation inadequate meet needs convened by Brackley: 'It's to Duresser Con- workers. The £20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) just of the MOt questor acrosvale Unions, next Tuesday. corde. Our priority is jobs. The issue, as llaison committee mem £10.14 for 6 months (156 issues) whole inability bers privately admit, Transport and Gen- of the aerospace ViC Ryan. £5.07 for 3 months (78 issues) eral Workers' Union engineering political orovide stable cull- reou want to take Workers Press twice a week the rates Guns issued to police £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) double in two years €6.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Fill in the form below NOW and send to : that are in pain! 1970, 1,072; Workers Press, 186a Clapham High St., FIREARMS were issued called the Special Circulation Dept qualified police Patrol Group

(SPG).

That era is over. The London SW4 7UG to 1971, 1,935; police are 2,237 The London contin- 1972, 2,237. last year, average the India House •en Knowin • 9 six occasions every Central London Com- ence beyond and doubt that they have was day. mitment I would like to take out a subscription to Workers Press.

shoot kill. six day This Special orders to to was revene• his Days required

MONDAY

THURSDAY

yesterday Home Branch. fire

TUESDAY

FRIDAY

Secretary Robert Carr The officers often Michael Meacher, arms (Please tick) une

WEDNESDAY

SATURDAY

civilian Labour MP for Oldham, police travel cars con- writen reply to d cerned the Labour MP. wearing They valy Javo. These official figures ing operate dura .months. nuineers anis Full subscription (six days) for round-the-clock shifts occasions in England tion particular are completely and Wales which incident. operational on Name variance with the facts

IOTT

LICE

'Firearms which are publicly London debors one more issued Address known and have is still trying to Carr waro Iccue• in conde the British tion with particular fired. There were only claim that peared in the three in the incident involving occasions The alice ing of the Pakistani that in 'emergen- Chines aria India House cies he draw sons known me deleted 1972 when police youths armed and firearms officers was revealed mar me Service were as fol- criminals British police force now against Amount enclosed E •anerous ras. an. "organization.

HOSPITAL STRIKES HIT NEW AREAS

PAGE 12 Workers Press, Friday March 9, 1973 Pressure for all-out strike unions' AS

THE

hospital calls both from the hospital hit selective strike campaign unions and the TUC continued Yorkshire, new areas to build up. Counties yesterday, strikers New strikes in Derby, Ches Scotland and the north Airedale, Worksop, terfield, west refused to return to and Cuckfield Huddershield work as scheduled. brought the overall number of In several areas, there was hospitals affected by total or fixm resistance to attempts partial strikes to 257. the In Dunfermline, strikers who undermine particularly action laundry work elective by should have returned to decided to stall. at four hospitals

GASMEN

BY ROYSTON BULL OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT

UNION LEADERS in the gas industry have called off the escalation in industrial action due from midnight Sunday following Wednesday's marathon talks with the Gas Corporation. A national delegate conference meets today to consider the situation.

A G&MWU statement said that the Corporation had put forward certain suggestions which it thought might resolve the dispute and, after discussion, a detailed document will be sub- mitted today to the delegates.

'In these circumstances, the union has instructed its re- gions to postpone the pro- posed escalation action on gas production work to provide time for the union's represen- tatives to consider the docu- ment.' The original intention was to production further cut town gas from Monday if the Corporation refused reduce supplies of to natural gas to industrial users.

The union leaders have gone back on this decision apparently because of possible alterations to the Corporation's redundancy programme for 1973-1974. There is improvement in no of $2.20 the pay offer more which is the week, limit set by the government, and has already been rejected. The men want £5.50. But the pay laws allow extra redundancy payments to be made outside the fl 4 plus per cent wage formula. And the Corpora- tion may also offer to reduce the 1,500 proposed redundancies for the coming year. None of this affects the pay and question, however he Is un- likely to industrial get action campaign called off. And The picket line at St James's Hospital, it is possible the escalation will go ahead next Monday anyway, unofficially. ahead in view of later develop- ments. Meanwhile the effects of the If it does, South Eastern Gas dispute continue to grow.

400,000 homes in their area say Another 100 men were off at have supplies cut off. But will Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant, will con- 450,000 other homes bringing the total to 2,850.

low-pressure tinue to receive spokesman said that pro- Greenwich, A supplies from East duction of 2,120 cars, valued London, and the Isle of Grain, at than £1.5m, had so far Kent. more been lost. Edmonds,

G&MWU

John official, said he was not optimistic In Wales, production problems that the delegate conference were becoming more severe, said a spokesman for Wales Gas.

would lead to agreement be- ing reached with the Corporation.

A warning to industry to be If the proposals are turned down, standby for cuts a two-hour on it is likely that the will union and reduced pressure was re- reinstate the plan to escalate the newed. action A total of 508 households in Wales were without gas yesterday Ford's workers

CORTINA

in could because installations not Dagenham body plant plan to be repaired. work today in protest stop Sixty service and distribution £2.40, against the company's personnel are now on strike in offer. government-controlled pay 50,000 customers. areas covering with the The stoppagein line stoppage by 250 sporadic strikes policy of the A men at Ford national convenors' plant has Croydon (Surrey) gas com- called from midnight Sun- expected to involve been mittee some 400 men on the day shift It immediately day. was known whether this would and several hundred more nights. At Halewood, Liverpool, the newspaper Published work-to-rule is cores re cutting Clapham High Street, duction 104d following SW4 7UG. Printed by ... three- and four-day Ltd. (TU), from Plough Жар-

SW4 7UG.

ham High Street, London. started stoppages which last 01-720 Circulation: * New 2000. week. 01-622

HOSPITAL WORKERS

stay out until Monday. Laundry workers at Whittingham men- tal hospital, Preston, decided to stay out for a second week.

At one of Europe's biggest hospital complexes, the Heath group in Cardiff, workers came out for their second three-day strike since the campaign be gan, while Cardiff's Royal In- firmary struck for a week from midnight. Kitchen workers at the Royal ANCILLARY workers at St James's Hospital in south London yesterday began a week-long official strike. The 12-man strike com- comprising all the unions claim-NUPE, the GaMWO and COHSE-issued a state- ment saying that an emer- gency cover was being pro- vided. Hospital, South London, yeslardary.

Press IT'S PRESSING ahead, but still not fast enough. We are deter- mined to raise as much as pos- sible this month. Our target is £1,750 — so there is not a moment to waste. More sections of workers are beginning to show their enor- mous determination to fight back against the Tories and their attacks on living. standards. Railwaymen, gasworkers, teach- ers, civil servants, hospital work- ersevery day, more and more are joining the fight. But from the trade union lead- no lead. there remains ers Workers Press must be used to build an alternative revolutionary leadership to prepare all these Intirmary • in Hull were given official backing for their strike against management attempts to shift laundry at night in their own cars. The group laundry at the Coventry, Whitely Hospital, came out on strike yesterday as other sections of ancillary workers went back. Mr Joseph, a laundry worker at Whitely, said: "There are too many people working for no-

BY ALEX MITCHELL

A large contingent of pickets, mainly women workers, gathered at the gates for most of yester- day morning. Strike committee spokesman Bill Webster said the strike had been called following an over- whelming vote at a mass meet- ing last Monday. He emphasized that the strike action had the the ex- fullest support even to tent of non-unionists joining in.

'There will be no drift back to work here, he declared.

Since the fight for the claim

MARCH FUND

HAS REACHED

€200.97 new layers of workers for the battles ahead. Use our paper to mobilize as much support as possible. Rally thousands over the next few days to our mass anti-Tory rally and Pageant at the Empire Pool, Wembley, this Sunday. Make this the centre of the struggle to build this leadership. There is : no doubt that our Fund is absolutely vital. Raise all you canwhere possible, raise Post all donations im- more. mediately to: Workers Press March Appeal Fund 186a Clapham High Street, London, SW4 7UG thing. Wages here are very low and you have to be running about all day. *The cost of living is too high. Things have gone up in the shops at a faster rate in the freeze than before it. •We have to abolish the Tory pay laws and we need a General Strike. One day is not enough to get a General Elec- tion. All the unions have to work together. began several weeks ago there has been a vigorous increase in union membership at St James's.

Among those groups support- ing the strikers are nurses. At a Press conference, Helen Rogal- ska said that nurses themselves were organizing support for the strike. They were drawing up a letter of support and sending it to the local newspaper.

As a further act of solidarity they are not asking for meals.

Individual doctors have also told the committee that they are fully behind the struggle for better wages and conditions.

Mr Webster condemned the capitalist Press for its wildly ex- aggerated stories about danger to patients. He added: 'We have conceded a whole number of points in relation to emergency cover. Our interests lie with the patients. We don't want to see patients suffer any more than is necessary. He singled out the BBC and the London 'Evening Standard' in particular. If the government is so con- cerned about morals and old aged pensioners then let them take steps to put an end to it.

If there are any mishaps because of this strike, the responsibility will lie with the government and the health authorities.' He angrily attacked consul- 'bleed' off the Na- tants who tional Health Service who have suddenly started to show huge concern for the welfare of patients. He said that these wealthy consultants only used the NHS to make personal profits for themselves. The strikers are due to go back at midnight next Wednes- which point the com- day at mittee is expected to review the position and make another re- commendation. On the picket line the mood was determined and optimistic.

'Too many vehicles are getting through for my liking,' said one young official picket. But we'll see to that as we get better organized.' Most vehicles respected the picket line; those who swept through in their cars contemp- tuous of the strikers and endangering them with their wild driving were police and cer- tain doctors. There was a curious moment shortly after lunchtime. A union representative pickets to 'go home' and also asked them to remove two rub- bish cans from the roadway which were effectively slowing down any vehicles. Seems like a odd way to run a picket line .... A HUNDRED COHSE members Salford Royal Infirmary from yesterday voted for a one-week in opposition total strike to union organizer Eddie Lawson.

He pleaded with them to respect their co-ordinating committee's selective strike action but was told: 'It needs all out to win'.

On Monday porters will join drivers already on strike from Hope Hospital, Manchester.